‘Game-hanging’ drug helps to prevent hot flushes wins approval in UK
Image Credit – The Guardian
The latest pill, Veoza or Fezolinetant helps the brain’s temperature control center to alleviate this indication.
The ‘game-changing’ medicine that prevents hot flushes and could offer advantage to hundreds of thousands of women has been accepted for use in the UK.
Hot flushes which are also called vasomotor symptoms, impact about 70% of women experiencing menopause. Women can overwhelmingly and suddenly feel hot which affects their daily life, sleep, exercise, and productivity.
The manufacturer of Veoza, Astellas has already started the process of applying to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence to enable women to access the drug on the NHS. It will be on the market privately from the fifth of January.
Veoza which is taken regularly as a tablet costs around £430 for a month’s supply in the US.
The interim executive director of healthcare quality and access at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Julian Beach stated, “Hot flushes and night sweats caused by menopause are common, and can have a significant impact on a woman’s daily life. We are therefore pleased to have authorized Veoza (fezolinetant) for hot flushes and night sweats caused by menopause via our reliance procedure.” Moreover added, “No medicine would be approved unless it met our expected standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness, and we continue to keep the safety of all medicines under close review.”
VEOZA was approved for use in women suffering from hot flashes associated with menopause with an instant effect. Regardless, it was not studied for efficacy and safety in women more than the age of 65.
The head of biopharma development at Astellas, Marci English, said, “Fezolinetant’s novel mechanism of action targets the root cause of moderate to severe VMS [vasomotor symptoms] associated with menopause. We are proud to have developed an innovative treatment option for a condition that has lacked scientific advancement for too long.”
Experts Said the treatment would be transformative for hundreds of thousands of women in the UK. Professor Waljit Dhillo said, “This is going to be a completely blockbuster drug,” moreover added, “It’s like a switch. Within a day or two the flushes go away. It’s unbelievable how well these drugs work. It’s going to be completely game-changing for a lot of women.”
A massive clinical trial of fezolinetent highlighted that after twelve weeks of using the pill, it decreased the frequency of hot flushes by about 60% in women with moderate indications, compared with a 45% reduction in those who got a placebo. Women also stated that the drug decreased the severity of hot flashes and also played a huge role in improving the quality of their sleep.
A menopause campaigner, Diane Danzebrink said, “Hot flushes and night sweats are common menopause symptoms which can be debilitating, affecting personal health and wellbeing, family lives and careers. It’s welcome news that doctors will have an alternative option to consider during a consultation, according to individual suitability. The decision is particularly important for those who’ve felt overlooked in the past in terms of treatment options, or those who prefer not to use HRT.
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