More than 75% of women experience menopause-related hot flashes during their lives — and an experimental pill may help alleviate them, a new study suggests.
In a study published in YAMA On Thursday, researchers found that the drug, elenzanetant, showed “statistically significant reductions” in the frequency and severity of hot flashes for menopausal women — without the use of hormones.
Not using hormones in the drug is important because it’s not a safe option for everyone, said Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and public health editor at KFF Health News, at “CBS Mornings” Friday.
“Some women can’t take hormones, so maybe they’ve had breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes, blood clots,” she said, adding that some women are also afraid to take hormones. “This goes back to a study that was done over 20 years ago on hormone therapy. There were a lot of problems with that study, and now, in hindsight, we understand that for the vast majority of women, hormone therapy is safe, and I think it’s very important to emphasize that, because a lot of women don’t use it, who could use it, but now we have some options for women who can’t or don’t want to take hormone replacement.”
The two main side effects seen in the clinical trials were headache and fatigue, but the long-term effects are still unknown.
“This is on data that has been reported out to 26 weeks of use. So obviously women would be on these medications much longer. Are there long-term side effects? We don’t know,” Gounder said.
Exactly how soon the medication may be available is also unknown. But Bayer, the company that makes it, filed an application this summer with the US Food and Drug Administration and expects to hear back in September.