'Handmade' menopause therapy could be risky

Some menopausal women in New Zealand are being prescribed potentially risky "handmade" natural hormone therapies being made up individually by a small number of pharmacists.

Some women overseas using the therapies, also known as bio-identical hormones, have suffered elevated hormone levels that could lead to excessive bleeding, increased risk of breast and uterine cancer and blood clots.

"Anecdotal evidence shows there has been an increasing trend in the number of prescriptions from doctors for compounded [made] hormone replacement treatments," said Medsafe's principal technical specialist, Dr Stewart Jessamine. Medsafe, the Government's medicines regulator, understood the hormone replacement products were made under an exemption to the Medicines Act, which allowed a pharmacy to make a prescription medicine for a patient.

Otago University's director of the Women's Health Research Centre, Bev Lawton, said there was a growing number of women in New Zealand turning to natural hormone replacement therapies to relieve menopausal symptoms. "Women are searching for an answer for the symptoms which are safe and effective, and these therapies are neither."

The therapies were unregulated and should be considered experimental.

Dr Lawton said many women were unaware of the risks posed by taking therapies and tougher controls on their sale and manufacturing were needed.

"I think they are making false claims about safety and we should be telling women that these products are unregulated and are experimental therapy."

Some of the products were quite "dangerous" and some were "just ineffective", she said. "We do not want people to be using these therapies."

Dr Jessamine said such therapies with sex hormones or that produced a sex hormone-like effect were classed as a prescription medicine.

- NZPA