Menopause drug cuts hot flushes in days

A NEW menopause drug could dramatically cut hot flushes and sleeplessness in just three days. Scientists hailed the results as “game-changing”, holding out hopes for a new alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Research by Imperial College London found that the drug compounds, tested on menopausal women, cut the number of hot flushes by almost three quarters.

Women taking the drugs reported an 82 per cent decrease in sleep interruptions and a 77 per cent drop in episodes of lost concentration.

Each year around 1.5million women experience menopausal symptoms, including 400,000 who suffer them to a troublesome extent, but many shun HRT, because it has been linked with an increased risk of breast cancer and blood clots.

The average menopause lasts for seven years, and four in five women will suffer hot flushes. The trial involved 37 menopausal women aged between 40 and 62 who experienced seven or more hot flushes a day.

Participants were randomly chosen to first receive either an 80mg daily dose of the drug, called MLE4901, or a placebo over the course of a four-week period, before the groups were swapped.

Early findings from the trial showed that the compound significantly reduced

the average total number of flushes during the four-week treatment period.

The drug works by targeting receptors in the brain, blocking a chemical called neurokinin B (NKB).

Prof Waljit Dhillo, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial, said: “We already knew this compound could be a game-changer for menopausal women, and get rid of three quarters of their hot flushes in four weeks, but this new analysis confirms the beneficial effect is obtained very quickly – within just three days.”

He added: “The specific compound was found to affect liver function, so future research will focus on similar drugs, which also block NKB but do not appear to carry these side effects.

“This class of new drugs may provide women with a much-needed alternative to HRT.”

Analysis of brain tissue from postmenopausal women has previously revealed elevated levels of NKB, while giving the chemical to younger patients has been found to induce flushing.

Dr Julia Prague, lead author of the study, said: “As NKB has many targets of action within the brain, the potential for this drug class to really improve many of the symptoms of the menopause… is huge. To see the lives of our participants change so dramatically and so quickly was so exciting, and suggests great promise for the future of this new type of treatment.”

The class of compound was originally developed as a drug for schizophrenia. The research, published in the journal Menopause, was funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research.