Our Shared Shelf discussion

The London Sunday Times has couple of articles on HRT (Hormone replacement therapy).

One links the work of leading menopause charities with links to Drug company which makes UK biggest HRT vendor.

The other outlines the risks of talking the treatment.

my question is this is given menopause has such a serious and debilitating symptoms and the best treatment has some serious risks why has more work not been done to find better treatments.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ne...

Emma wrote: "Ross wrote: "The London Sunday Times has couple of articles on HRT (Hormone replacement therapy).

One links the work of leading menopause charities with links to Drug company which makes UK bigges..."

Not just men, Emma, not just men.
HRT is so complicated, they better put a lot of research into it. Not only menopausal women need hormones, others need to, like me. (Reading the package insert might freak one out a little bit)
It's the unknown that makes us uncomfortable, and since men are in power, we are in a bad place considering everything female.

It's a complex issue. and one that I only know the barest on. But in very base language it comes down to the business: the patient size (how many people will purchase) and that patients risk factor (markup).

Heart attacks, the number one cause of death for women, kills women. Cancer, specifically cervical or breast, kills women. Menopause, while uncomfortable, is not considered a large enough risk factor. i.e. patients don't need to take the drug. they can opt out and still live a life. Whereas there is a large risk for those who stop taking their heart medicine. And there comes the trade offs, right. What are the side effects?

Now, is there a bias towards women and women's pain... perhaps. I'm willing to see the numbers if anyone has any? Who owns that market space? Midol? Pamprin?

Pam wrote: "It's a complex issue. and one that I only know the barest on. But in very base language it comes down to the business: the patient size (how many people will purchase) and that patients risk factor..."

Osteoporosis sucks tho, I'd rather have that later in life than say in 10 years. Osteopenia is also not really something I look forward to.
And hot flushes as well, I'm not really looking forward to them.

Just because something doesn't kill you, doesn't mean you don't need treatment for it.

This stands out of the scope of feminism (of course menopause is a feminist issue!): some nonhuman animals experience menopause too! One of the advantages of that fact: treatments could be tested on appropriate animal models before being put on the market.

Details in the LennyLetter article: Do Orcas Have Hot Flashes?