Prescription testosterone therapies may double a man’s risk of suffering a heart attack, according to a 2014 study. Research has suggested the risk of heart attack, stroke, death and other cardiovascular events for years, but drug manufacturers didn’t warn users.
How many men who received one of 5.3 million testosterone prescriptions would have avoided the drug if they had known it could be deadly?
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The study examined the records of more than 55,000 testosterone treatment users. Researchers found that heart attack risk doubled during the first three months of use in men younger than 65 with a history of heart disease and in all men older than 65. Another study published in November 2013 suggested a 30 percent increased risk of stroke, heart attack and death in older men taking testosterone therapy.
In response to the studies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating approved testosterone therapy products and their association with life-threatening cardiovascular events.
Previous Studies Linked Testosterone Drugs with Heart Disease
This isn’t the first research to suggest a link between testosterone treatments and cardiac events. A 2009 study published in the Journal of Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management suggested “severe heart failure” as a possible risk. Another study from 2010 associated an increased risk for cardiovascular events in men over 65 with limited mobility. But testosterone therapy users still weren’t warned, and millions of drugs continued to be sold.
"The findings come amid years of aggressive promotion of testosterone treatments. A study published last fall in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that annual prescriptions for these elixirs rose more than five-fold from 2000 to 2011…" – Ed Silverman, Forbes
Hutton & Hutton is Experienced in Unsafe Drug Law
Drug manufacturers must take responsibility when their products endanger people’s lives without warning. Contact Andrew W. Huttonand Mark B. Hutton at the Hutton & Hutton Law Firm immediately if you or a loved one suffered a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular event while using a testosterone therapy medication. The Wichita personal injury lawyers stand up to drug manufacturers who hurt consumers every day, and they win.