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2004/02/27
Researchers say studies showing
HRT may increase the risk of heart disease were published
as early as 1997.
But most
were done by drug companies and were not publicly available.
The risk was only formally acknowledged in 2002 when a large
US trial was halted.
Writing in the British Medical Journal,
the researchers called for drug firms to be more open about
their research.
Professor Klim McPherson of Oxford University
and Professor Elina Hemminki of the National Research and Development
Centre for Welfare and Health in Helsinki reviewed 23 studies,
published before 2002.
Health risks
That was the year the Women's
Health Initiative trial was halted. The study, which involved
16,000 women, was stopped when scientists realised that women
on HRT had a higher risk of heart disease and breast cancer
compared to those taking dummy drugs.
Many of the studies they
looked at were done by pharmaceutical companies and were used
to help them get licences for HRT drugs.
They found that women
on HRT were more likely to have heart problems.
"A higher proportion
of the women taking hormone replacement therapy had cardiovascular
events than women in the control groups," they said.
The findings
were published in 1997 and were widely rejected. "When we published
these findings in 1997, we were ridiculed," they said.
Writing
in the BMJ this week, they said data from six other trials
had shown similar findings. However, they said they had to
go through the courts to obtain access to these studies, which
had been carried out by drugs companies.
The researchers called
for new rules to ensure their is better access to studies done
by the pharmaceutical industry.
"Such studies should be in
registers of clinical trials and when legitimate anxiety about
the safety of the products is raised, the data from all such
studies should be made available to independent scientists
and regulators.
"This is not a great deal to ask," they said. "How
long will it take us to learn? How many women were needlessly
exposed to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease?"
The
Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said drug
companies are becoming more open with their research.
"We have
set up a one stop shop online listing clinical trial data -
the Pharmaceutical Industry Clinical Trials database," said
a spokesman.
"A lot of companies have signed up although some
have not. We are encouraging more to join. It gives summary
information and details on where to go to obtain more information
on studies."
BBC NEWS
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Menopause