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Dr Odile Bagot (Gynecologist-obstetrician)
Medical validation:
March 17, 2023
This is great news for all women prone to hot flashes. A new non-hormonal treatment could soon make them disappear. Update on this drug with Odile Bagot, gynecologist.
Nearly 80% of women are prone to hot flashes, a characteristic symptom of menopause, often disabling on a daily basis. But good news: for the first time since 1941, a “non-hormonal” treatment against these heat strokes could soon be marketed.
A drug that blocks the effects of neurons
While the main current treatment for menopause is hormonal (estrogens combined with a progestogen), the drug currently under review by the Food and Drug Administration innovates in its modus operandi. It would indeed stop these famous “heat strokes” by treating the neurological cause:
“We’ve always said that hot flashes happen because of a malfunction in the hypothalamus, and that’s true. But now we understand the mechanisms behindadmits Nanette Santoro, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Clearly, the treatment in question would block the effects of the neurons responsible for triggering these puffs.
It would be like “the first pharmacological class dedicated to hot flashes since the launch of Premarin in 1941“, reveals Stephanie Faubion, director of the Center for Women’s Health at Mayo Clinic and medical director of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS).
An innovative treatment, but also “necessary” for many women, as Dr Odile Bagot says.
“This is the first treatment for the neurological cause of hot flashes. It’s a real breakthrough for women, because it acts directly on the hypothalamus, the area that triggers hot flashes.“, reveals the expert. “This drug is particularly interesting for all those who have contraindications to hormonal treatments or who have breast cancer..”
A treatment soon on the market?
Various companies, which have believed in this therapeutic innovation, have already begun to test drug candidates in clinical trials. These are ‘Fezolinetant’, ‘Elinzanetant’ and ‘Pavinetant’ (whose trial was stopped after it caused liver problems).
“Several molecules are already in phase three, that is to say the penultimate phase before marketing. The next step is indeed going through the FDA“, says Dr. Bagot.
It now remains to wait until the release of the drug.