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Women taking Premarin, a hormone-replacement therapy drug, are shocked after seeing costs soar in recent weeks as the drug maker copes with a declining use of the product.

The cost of the HRT pills jumped from $13 for a three-month supply to $100, plus a dispensing fee, in April.

"When they showed me the bill, I said 'You've got to be joking, right?' It make it unaffordable for a lot of women," said Toronto resident Rositta Buracas. She told CTV that the drug helps her feel better and sleep better.

"I want the company to sit up and take notice ... they'd better do something because there will be lots of bitchy, hormonal women out there."

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, the drug company that produces Premarin, said the price adjustment is fair, and below the national average prescription cost in Canada.

"The new price is more realistic and reflective of current costs, including higher manufacturing and ingredient costs and a long-term, steady reduction in the consumption of the product, increasing the per-dose and per-patient cost significantly," Wyeth said in a statement.

Premarin is among the most popular HRT drugs to treat symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes. But a study in 2002 questioned the safety of HRT.

The Women's Health Initiative study found that women taking estrogen and progestin together had higher rates of breast cancer and heart disease, and those who took estrogen alone had a higher risk of stroke.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada issued new guidelines this year saying HRT was effective and safe for periods of up to five years.

Despite the controversy around HRT, sales were close to $1-billion last year, according to IMS Health, a private company that tracks prescription-drug sales. But doctors say the numbers are falling. Roughly 1.7 million Premarin oral prescriptions were dispensed from pharmacies last year, a drop from 2.1 million prescriptions in 2005, IMS data showed.

Neil MacKinnon, associate professor in the college of pharmacy and faculty of medicine at Dalhousie University, said Premarin's price increase is legal because it has been around for so long and its pricing doesn't come under the jurisdiction of the federal patented medicine review board.

"The per-cent increase is large," he said. "There's definitely evidence that cost of medications is a significant barrier to Canadians."

Joel Lexchin, a professor of health policy at York University, said women could have a difficult time switching to another HRT drug because they would not necessarily receive the same benefits.

"Morally, I think that this is wrong, to take advantage of people like this. But from the company's point of view, they're doing what's expected of them, what their shareholders would want," Prof. Lexchin said.