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Dr Odile Bagot (Gynecologist-obstetrician)
After the United States, it is England’s turn to approve this non-hormonal drug against hot flashes. A relief for all English women suffering from this frequent inconvenience during menopause.
For the first time since 1941, a “non-hormonal” treatment for hot flashes has just been approved by the English health authorities. Postmenopausal women under 65 will now be able to access it, reports the British newspaper The Guardian.
Hormone-free treatment
While the current main treatment for menopause is hormonal (estrogen combined with progestin), the drug now approved in the UK is hormone-free.
This drug would in fact block a protein in the brain called “neurokinin-3”, involved in the regulation of body temperature in postmenopausal women.
“Fezolinetant’s new mechanism of action targets the root cause of [symptômes vasomoteurs] moderate to severe associated with menopause”, specifies Marci English, the head of biopharmaceutical development at Astellas Pharma, the company that manufactures the drug. “We are proud to have developed an innovative treatment option for a disease that has lacked scientific progress for too long.”
Clearly, the treatment in question would block the effects of the neurons responsible for triggering hot flashes.
It would be like this:the first pharmacological class dedicated to hot flashes since the marketing of Premarin in 1941“, revealed Stephanie Faubion, director of the Center for Women’s Health at the Mayo Clinic and medical director of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), last March.
Particularly interesting for women who cannot resort to hormonal treatments
This drug has already proven itself from a scientific point of view: clinical trials of fezolinetant showed that the frequency of hot flashes was reduced by around 60% in women with moderate or severe symptoms. And this, after only two and a half months of treatment.
Other discomforts linked to menopause, such as mood disorders or fatigue, also seem to improve with this medication.
An “essential” treatment for women suffering from these symptoms, believes Dr Odile Bagot.
“This is the first treatment for the neurological cause of hot flashes. This is a real breakthrough for women, because it acts directly on the hypothalamus, the area that triggers hot flashes.“, reveals the expert.”This medication is particularly interesting for all those who have contraindications to hormonal treatments or who have breast cancer..”
A treatment soon to be marketed in France?
You will have to wait a little longer to benefit from the drug in France: fezolinetant has just obtained marketing authorization from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on December 7.