Texas AG launches investigation into pharmaceutical companies' promotion of puberty blockers

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced last Monday that his office has launched an investigation of two pharmaceutical companies that have allegedly advertised and promoted hormone blockers for children.

"I will not allow pharmaceutical companies to take advantage of Texas children. I have officially opened an investigation," Paxton tweeted last Monday.

The attorney general's office began its investigation of Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. and AbbVie Inc. on the grounds that the two companies have violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The act is a wide-reaching piece of legislation that allows the state to investigate business practices that the attorney general deems deceptive.

The medications Supprelin LA and Lupron Depot have been approved to treat Central Precocious Puberty, according to the statement released by Paxton's office. CPP is a rare condition in which gonadotropin-releasing hormone is produced at a very early age, for which there's no identifiable cause at this time. However, possible causes of CPP include a defect in the brain present at birth, such as excess fluid buildup, a tumor on the brain, or radiation to the brain or spinal cord, according to the Mayo Clinic.

However, Paxton said that the drugs have not been approved by the FDA to be used as puberty blockers and condemned the use of these drugs to stop children from going through normal puberty as "dangerous and reckless."

“These drugs were approved for very different purposes and can have detrimental and even irreversible side effects," Paxton said in a statement.

A Swedish study at Karolinska University Hospital confirmed the irreversible effects of placing children under the age of 16 on hormone blockers. The hospital revised its policy of using the hormone blockers as of April 1, citing the use of puberty blockers as causing an increased risk of conditions such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, infertility, increased cancer risk, and thrombosis, according to the Christian Post.

Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. told Fox News that the company had not advertised Supprelin LA and Lupron Depot as treatments for gender dysphoria. The company maintains that its medication has only been used as a treatment for CPP.

"The company has not promoted either of these medications outside of their indications and does not promote medications for off-label uses," Endo Pharmaceuticals spokesperson Zoumas Lubeski told Fox News.

Lubeski did indicate to Fox News that Endo Pharmaceuticals would fully cooperate with the state's investigation.