Last November, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that testosterone therapy use was associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and death. The JAMA study was one of two that prompted the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the link between low-T drugs and cardiovascular risks.
In response, the makers of testosterone replacement therapy products are funding the Androgen Study Group - an attack group that wants the JAMA study retracted. The group recently published a public letter and distributed a press release promoting the letter that attacked the basis of the study.
The JAMA study had a minor non-material misclassification of the reasons why certain patients were disqualified from the study. Cardiologist Michael Ho, a co-author of the JAMA study, stands firmly by the study results and said that the results “remain unchanged even if we include the patients that were questioned with regard to exclusion criteria.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Abraham Morgentaler, the head of the Androgen Study Group, received payments from Abbvie, the marketer of AndroGel. Several of the other doctors and academics who signed a letter calling for the retraction of the JAMA study “have relationships with drug makers,” including those that profit off low-T drugs, the Wall Street Journal also noted.
Howard Bauchner, JAMA’s editor-in-chief, told the Wall Street Journal that the publication has no plans to retract the paper.
To quickly learn about the ongoing low-T product lawsuits, please see our testosterone therapy lawsuits infographic.
