STAT+: Pharmalittle: We're reading about menopause treatments, Novo plans for Wegovy in India, and more

Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. Clear blue skies and chilly breezes are wafting over the Pharmalot campus, where the official mascots are snoozing after waking the neighbors and foraging for their breakfast. This means we are free to focus on the matters at hand — rummaging through our to-do list and making cups of stimulation. Our choice today is Junior’s cheesecake, which reminds us of the old country. Can you guess which one? In any event, please feel free to join us. Meanwhile, here is the latest menu of tidbits to help you get started yourself. We hope your day is productive and meaningful. And of course, do keep in touch. We appreciate the insights and ideas. …

The use of hormone therapy for menopausal women’s heart health has plummeted over the past few decades — in 1999, almost 27% of menopausal women in the U.S. used estrogen, and by 2020, less than 5% did, STAT writes, citing recently released research. Yet at the annual meeting of the Menopause Society earlier this fall, researchers presented new evidence that hormone therapy can be beneficial to menopausal women’s heart health, reducing insulin resistance and other cardiovascular biomarkers. This was the latest in a long line of research showing the benefits of hormone therapy for women in menopause, which also includes alleviating symptoms like hot flashes, sleep disturbances, vaginal dryness, and pain during sex. But more women in menopause are not taking advantage of treatments known to be effective due to misconceptions about the risks of hormone therapy and a lingering cultural taboo around discussing menopause, experts say.

Novo Nordisk’s team in India has been pushing the drugmaker’s global leadership for an earlier launch of its popular weight loss drug Wegovy over fears of falling behind rival Eli Lilly in the potentially huge market, Reuters reports. Novo has said Wegovy might be introduced in India in 2026 once regulatory approvals are in hand and there is sufficient supply. More recently, the India team proposed moving the launch to next year, around the same time Lilly is expected to introduce its weight loss drug Mounjaro. In a closed-door meeting at Novo headquarters in Denmark about two months ago, the India team raised concerns that the company could lag behind Lilly in the domestic market if Wegovy was not launched early. The companies have been struggling to meet soaring demand in the U.S. and the few other countries where the drugs have been launched so far. Novo and Lilly are both scaling up production as they vie for a dominant share of a weight loss market that some analysts forecast could reach $150 billion a year in the next decade.

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