NIH Panel supports use of hormone therapy for treatment of menopausal symptoms

A panel meeting in conjunction with this week's Conference on the Management of Menopause-Related Symptoms, convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has issued a statement supporting the use of postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) for the management of moderate to severe menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, supports the panel's statement on the treatment of menopausal symptoms and encourages women experiencing menopause to talk with their doctor to determine treatment options as appropriate, based on an individual woman's treatment goals and personal health profile.

The NIH conference provided a forum for researchers and clinicians to discuss the physiologic causes of menopausal symptoms and a range of treatment interventions. Estimates vary, but most women going through menopause experience symptoms, such as hot flashes. These symptoms can have a significant negative impact on a woman's daily activities.

"The panel agreed that hormone therapy remains the most consistently effective therapy for treating menopausal symptoms and is, by far, the most intensively studied," said Dr. Gary Stiles, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

While the NIH conference focused on menopausal symptoms, another important health issue for women is postmenopausal bone loss -- an asymptomatic condition that can lead to the development of osteoporosis. Up to 20 percent of a woman's expected lifetime bone loss can occur in the years immediately following menopause. Only HT has been proven both to relieve menopausal symptoms and to prevent postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Associations of women's health experts -- including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and the International Menopause Society (IMS) -- agree that postmenopausal estrogen and estrogen plus progestin therapies are highly effective for the alleviation of moderate to severe hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness, and are also appropriate therapies for the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis in symptomatic women.

The benefits and risks of HT should be discussed between a woman and her doctor before initiating therapy. HT should be used at the lowest effective dose and for the shortest duration of time consistent with a woman's individual treatment goals and risks.

The panel discussed alternative therapies, such as bioidenticals and over- the-counter remedies, currently being used as potential treatment options for the relief of menopausal symptoms, but noted the paucity of safety and efficacy data.

With more than 60 years of science and clinical experience, there is an extensive catalogue of data documenting the benefits and risks of the PREMARIN (conjugated estrogens) Family of Products. Products are available in multiple strengths, including four low doses options: Premarin (conjugated estrogens tablets, USP) 0.3 mg, PREMARIN 0.45 mg, Prempro(TM) (conjugated estrogens/medroxyprogesterone acetate tablets) 0.3 mg/1.5 mg, and PREMPRO 0.45 mg/1.5 mg.

"Medicine and science continue to evolve, and Wyeth is committed to offering menopausal women and their health care providers innovative, well- studied products to meet individual treatment goals and risks," said Dr. Stiles.