Every day, we are bombarded with advertisements touting how certain products will keep us young. This marketing tactic is used to sell everything from cars, cosmetics, music, clothes, and now pharmaceutical drugs. It is one thing to play on our fear of aging to entice us to buy the newest sports car — but to convince us to use a medical treatment? Is that going too far?
With the recent FDA safety announcement on prescription testosterone products, one ponders such a question. The products were approved by the FDA for use in men with a specific medical condition, known as hypogonadism. This condition causes men to suffer low levels of testosterone, often because of damage — from injury, chemotherapy, or other trauma — to the testes.
However, the manufacturers of these “low T” products chose not to play within the lines of that approval. Instead, they played on men’s top fears related to aging – declining sex drive and loss of strength. In doing so, “low T” treatments have been promoted for use in men with depression, fatigue, low sex drive, lack of energy, reduction in strength and endurance, loss of enjoyment of life and deceased athletic ability, all of which can be caused by a wide range of medical conditions — not just “low T.”
This marketing approach worked. Nearly 3 percent of all men in the United States over the age of 40 use “low T” treatments, earning the products’ manufacturers billions in revenue.
As they perfected their marketing pitches and earned these profits, did the manufacturers think about patient safety? That is a question that will surely be answered as the FDA begins its investigation of “low T” treatments and litigation begins. The FDA is concerned with the increased risk of heart attack, stroke and death related to these products after two recent studies showed an increase in these adverse events among men who used prescription “low T” treatments.
At Morgan & Morgan, we are aggressively investigating and evaluating cases on behalf of men who used testosterone therapy. If you or a loved one suffered a stroke, heart attack or any other serious adverse event while using AndroGel or another “low T” product, fill out our free case review form today.
comments