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American Morning
Interview with Dr. Jerome Groopman
Aired July 22, 2002 - 09:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: If you think menopause is a problem only for women, perhaps you have not recognized the symptoms, or maybe you just have not seen the ads. Pharmaceutical companies that are in the business of inventing drugs and selling them, now have some people wondering whether they might also be in the business of inventing diseases as well. In this week's edition of "The New Yorker" magazine, which hits the newsstands today, an article called "The Making of Male Menopause" appears.
We are joined by the author of that piece, Dr. Jerome Groopman, live here in New York City -- good to see you, Doctor. How are you today? `
DR. JEROME GROOPMAN, "THE MAKING OF MALE MENOPAUSE": Good to be here.
HEMMER: I guess first things first here. I read your article. Very interesting. Do we know that it exists for men in the first place?
GROOPMAN: Not at all. What we do know is that as men age, their testosterone levels drop slowly, about 1 percent a year. So if you look at men, say, in their 60's, and compare them to men in their 20's, the men in their 60's have lower levels, sometimes below what is normal for a 20-year-old. But does that have any effect on their health? No one really knows.
HEMMER: Take it a step further. What conditions would a person experience if, indeed, it is true that it is out there?
GROOPMAN: Right. We know what happens in the 20-year-old. We know that his muscles get weak, his energy is low, his bones become fragile. But to say that the same things happen to an older man, we don't know that yet. But that is what is being advertised.
HEMMER: The study that will go to this, and you talk about it in the piece, how much study has there been on this particular illness, we call it, a disease or something like that -- and if you consider the amount of study that is done medically, how far away are they from saying, You know what, we've concluded it, and it is a done deal?
GROOPMAN: Well, you have about half a dozen studies, mostly about 20-50 men being studied. And what you really need...
HEMMER: That's not a very big sample.
GROOPMAN: Not at all. You need tens of thousands of men being studied, and comparing those men receiving, say, the hormone versus placebo.
HEMMER: So right now, the drug companies -- we said it in our lead-in, I will let you address it -- is it true that if some allege that they are making up diseases to sell drugs, is that a possibility or not?
GROOPMAN: Well, I think that the physicians who believe in this are sincere, but the drug companies see that they can make billions of dollars if you can get millions of men, millions of aging men, to take a hormone every day. Just like for women what we learned last week with hormone replacement therapy, two and a half billion dollars a year for estrogen.
HEMMER: So if a doctor comes to you, or anyone else for that matter, and says, You know what, we really want you to start taking this drug here, because I think you might be in the area of a person who may be impacted by this. What does a patient do at that point?
GROOPMAN: I think a patient should get a second opinion from another physician, and know from what we're talking about today, that male menopause is really not a defined medical illness. It may just be a natural way of aging, which actually protects us against diseases.
HEMMER: If estrogen replacement already has been proven in some cases to lead, possibly, to breast cancer, if you are taking the drugs for male menopause, could you be a person who is viable to be hit by the same thing?
GROOPMAN: Well, you are at tremendous risk to get prostate cancer.
HEMMER: Really?
GROOPMAN: Most men -- absolutely. Most men in their 60's develop little clusters of cancer cells in their prostate, which never bother them, and they go on and live full and healthy lives. Testosterone is like fuel on fire for prostate cancer. If you give someone with early prostate cancer testosterone, it explodes. It can also potentially make your blood much thicker, strain your heart, cause heart disease, stroke and blood clots.
HEMMER: There was a drug out there, doctor, you know it. It has been used for some time right now. Many people take it. Is it dangerous?
GROOPMAN: The drug is very good for young men who have no testosterone, who have these rare diseases. The drug has real risks in an older population.
HEMMER: How long has this been circulating out there? Would you go back decades on this, or is this something that you would consider fairly new?
GROOPMAN: It's within the last year or so that it's really exploded. It is sort of the next big thing in hormone treatment, and the reason for that is because it is now very easy to take testosterone. You don't need to have an injection. You can use a gel or a patch, put it on your skin once a day with no bother. There also is a small group of physicians who have come out with recommendations recently, this June, saying that all men over the age of 50 should be screened for testosterone deficiency.
HEMMER: You're putting up the white flag on it already.
GROOPMAN: At least the white flag.
HEMMER: The article is out there. Dr. Jerome Groopman, thanks for coming in and talking to us.
GROOPMAN: Thank you.
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