Lupron® – What Does It Do To Women’s Health?
By Susan K. Flinn, MA
Lupron® is an “antineoplastic agent” that was originally developed for advanced prostate cancer patients, but is now commonly used to treat women with endometriosis and fibroids Like all antineoplastics, Lupron® is harmful to both cancerous and non-cancerous cells. But do the risks outweigh the benefits? The FDA reports that, as long ago as 1999, it had received adverse drug reports about Lupron® from 4,228 women and 2,943 men. These side effects included: tingling, itching, headache and migraine, dizziness, severe joint pain, difficulty breathing, chest pain, nausea, depression, emotional instability, dimness of vision, fainting, weakness, amnesia, hypertension, muscular pain, bone pain, nausea/vomiting, asthma, abdominal pain, insomnia, chronic enlargement of the thyroid, liver function abnormality, vision abnormality, and anxiety, and others. In 325 of these cases, the women required hospitalization; 25 women died.
If the drug is doing what it should and helping women suffering from fibroids, endometriosis, or infertility, that’s one thing. But what if the drug doesn’t work or was approved based on faulty data? The Federal Dept. of Health and Human Services determined that the lead investigator involved with studies on Lupron®’s use in treating fibroids and endometriosis committed scientific misconduct, and admitted to falsifying or fabricating 80 percent of the data in two published studies on Lupron®. The Federal Register noted that the investigator “altered and fabricated information in permanent patient medical records and notes by changing dates, changing and adding text, and fabricating notes for clinic visits that did not occur.”
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