The FDA, the US drug regulatory agency, has approved the first non-hormonal drug to treat the hot flashes that some women experience during the menopause. The drug is fezolinetant and was developed by pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma, which will market it under the name Veozah.
80% of menopausal women suffer from hot flashes, a sudden feeling of heat that in 25% of cases is a major obstacle to continuing daily activities. To prevent these and other menopause symptoms, hormone treatments are available to compensate for the decline in natural production. However, some women, such as women with breast tumors whose growth is sensitive to the presence of hormones, cannot receive these therapies. In addition, many women and even some doctors are reluctant to use hormonal treatments.
Last March, The Lancet magazine published the results of a study showing the potential of this drug to block the neurokinin-3 receptor, a fundamental part of the communication system with the location in the brain that regulates temperature , in the hypothalamus . There, the drop in estrogen is interpreted as a drop in temperature and sends a defense signal so that the blood vessels in the skin dilate, which the woman perceives as a sudden reddening. Fezolinetant is quite successful in blocking this miscommunication.
Antonio Cano, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Valencia and co-author of this study, explained at the time that the frequency of symptoms was reduced by just over 50% compared to placebo. This value “would be just slightly below what hormonal treatments offer,” he told EL PAÍS at the time. Cano believes that in cases like women who have had certain types of tumors, “the treatment that should be used in the general population is hormonal,” although it can also be a second option for women who don’t accept that type of tumor of treatments.
“It would be a second option that doesn’t come close to hormonal treatment in effectiveness but is vastly superior to other treatments that have virtually no proven effectiveness, such as phytoestrogens or serotonin reuptake inhibitors.” [usados habitualmente para la depresión]which are used by many women with breast cancer but have no significant effectiveness,” he explained.
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