As a result of the pandemic, the shortage of testosterone in Mexico increased, which caused Mexican trans men who are under hormone replacement therapy to start a long ordeal to get their doses, since the risk of being left without access to the drug was very high.
The drug began to run out of pharmacies as the months went by, until fewer and fewer batches arrived. The lack of doses was bearable for a while, but the limit was broken in April 2022, when the shortage escalated to truly worrying levels, especially for the transgender community. If in Mexico City there was a shortage, in the rest of the country it was even more difficult to obtain it, in almost all of Mexico injectable testosterone had run out.
The brands that were mainly sold out were Sostenon and Primoteston, so health services resorted to other alternatives to support patients. It was then that on August 19, 2022, the Transmasculinidades MX collective, a “meeting and accompaniment space between trans and non-binary masculinities”, as the collective describes itself, reported the petition made by Andrea González Rodríguez, the executive director of the Center for the Prevention and Comprehensive Care of HIV and AIDS in Mexico City.
He urgently requested 3,558 units of testosterone undecanoate, a drug better known as Nebido, this amount includes treatment for approximately 6 months for the 815 trans men registered at the Condesa y Condesa Iztapalapa Specialized Clinic, as well as the 144 patients treated at the Health Unit Comprehensive for Trans People (Usipt).
Likewise, the Endocrinology service of the Transgender Clinics that are part of the Condesa and Condesa Iztapalapa Specialized Clinics and the Comprehensive Health Unit for Trans People, joined forces with Transmasculinidades MX and La Jauría Trans to seek efficient and safe treatment alternatives.
The good news is that the Condesa Specialized Clinic Administration managed to obtain 1,500 units of 1,000 mg of Testosterone Undecanoate. It is an injectable that lasts approximately 12 to 14 weeks. Because there are more patients than drugs, they had to devise a strategy to optimize the amount of dosage to be enough for everyone.
“The application of each dose will be carried out in the clinics with prior scheduling by the treating medical personnel and during the consultation, you will receive information regarding the measures that have been taken in order to maximize the medicine while the production chain is regularized”, was communicated in the document published through social networks.
Likewise, they agreed to create a Clinical Committee to update care protocols, which will be coordinated by the Comprehensive Health Unit for Trans People and will be made up of Specialists, Experts, and Trans People.
It is a testosterone replacement therapy when the body does not produce enough of this hormone. Its effects last approximately 3 months and the injectable dose of 1000 mg costs $3448 pesos.
As a result of the pandemic, the shortage of testosterone in Mexico increased, which caused Mexican trans men who are under hormone replacement therapy . . .
