Pharmaceutical companies specialize in marketing synthetic non bio-identical HRT drugs. The biggest sellers feature imitations of estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. Unlike bioidenticals, they are crafted to differ structurally from human hormone. This basic difference is intentional and essential. It allows the patenting of synthetic hormones. Needless to say, patented medications generate big profits.
These non-identical imitators do reduce some symptoms of hormone deficiency. However, they cannot restore the balance that supports good health. Built-in dissimilarities prohibit synthetic hormones from communicating with many receptors that control crucial body functions. This creates an environment for serious health problems.
Pharmaceutical companies also market a few so-called ‘natural’ products, like Premarin. Premarin is made from conjugated equine estrogen (CEE). This comes from the urine of pregnant mares. Even though Wyeth-Ayerst calls it ‘natural,’ the body sees CEE as foreign. Another product, Prempro, was created from a combination of Premarin and synthetic progesterone. This notorious drug produced disastrous results for participants in several long term studies of women’s health. Both heart attacks and breast cancer incidence skyrocketed during those studies. Because of this, the FDA now recommends doctors prescribe HRT in the lowest dose possible for the shortest time needed.