When it comes to sketchy medicine, female hormone therapies have company. According to reporter John Fauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the fast-growing field of testosterone therapy is “based largely on iffy science, promotion, manipulation and conflicts of interest,” much of which originated at the University of Wisconsin.
Fauber found the questionable ties during an investigation of company-funded UW courses that count as continuing education credits for local physicians. Despite the lack of rigorous research into testosterone therapy’s effects, UW courses (with material created in part by drug company contractors and involving studies authored by doctors with drug company ties) and other like them have helped push testosterone therapies, especially Solvay’s AndroGel, to millions of American males. In his extensively researched piece, Fauber takes on not only local conflicts of interest, but also the male hormone replacement and anti-aging movement.
