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Hormone Replacement Therapy About HRT - History of HRT The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat symptoms associated with menopause dates back to the 1940s. However, the popularity of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) accelerated in the 1960s, energized by the marketing schemes of companies like Wyeth-Ayerst, the largest single manufacturer of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). During the 1960s, menopause, a natural stage of life for women, was often depicted as a "disease" in need of a "cure." Such thinking and imagery, propagated by the drug manufacturers' focused and pervasive marketing campaigns, drove a steadily-increasing demand for hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Until the late 1970s, Premarin®, Wyeth's blockbuster estrogen-only, hormone replacement drug, was the "cure" of choice for menopause and its dreaded effects. At its peak, Premarin® generated approximately 30 million prescriptions annually. However, beginning in 1976, scientific studies demonstrated that estrogen-only therapy was associated with an increased risk of uterine (endometrial) cancer among women who used such drugs. In view of this demonstrated association between estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy and uterine cancer, sales of estrogen-only drugs such as Premarin® declined. Fortunately for the manufacturers of hormone replacement drugs, this downward spiral was reversed when a scientist hypothesized that combining progesterone (another female hormone) with estrogen countered the cancer-causing effects of estrogen. This marked the advent of the new "cure" for menopause - combination (estrogen and progesterone) hormone replacement therapy marketed in drugs such as the blockbuster Prempro® - a cure that would drive drug company sales until 2002. From 1960 until 2002, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) evolved as a generally accepted, first-line treatment option for women experiencing the effects of menopause. Moreover, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was also touted for it protective benefits - offering women protection from increasing risks of osteoporosis, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other age-related ailments. For the drug companies producing hormone replacement therapy (HRT), the evolution of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a generally accepted, first-line treatment translated into a billion dollar industry. For Wyeth, the single, largest manufacturer of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs, "sales of women's health care products" - including its Premarin®, Prempro®, and Premphase® product lines - reached $2.8 billion in 2001. 
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