Sajid Javid holds crisis talks with HRT suppliers as pressure mounts to end menopause drug shortages

Sajid Javid met with hormone replacement therapy providers yesterday amid growing pressures to address essential medicine shortages.

In a print of the Daily Mail’s crisis resolution campaign, the Health Minister vowed not to “overlook everything” in improving the supply of hormone substitutes.

Thousands of women remained untreated for menopausal symptoms such as depressed mood, brain fog, and hot flashes.

Mr. Javid and Madelaine McTernan, the new head of the HRT procurement task force, met with representatives from the procurement, wholesale and community pharmacy industries.

According to NHS data, HRT prescriptions have more than doubled in England over the past five years, leading to a major shortage.

The meeting with Javid comes after Theramex, a London-based pharmaceutical company that manufactures hormone gels, said it did not take any action after being warned of the shortage in October last year.

Tina Backhouse, UK managing director of the company, told the Daily Telegraph: [fix this issue in October]† But the thing is, people just wanted to talk about Covid.’

Mr. Javid met with representatives of companies Gedeon Richter, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Orion, Pfizer, Besins Healthcare, Viatris and community pharmacies. They discussed other factors that could distort supply, such as production issues, capacity constraints, and business decisions.

Popular HRTs like Bijuve (pictured) face major shortcomings as menopausal symptoms become severe in many women.

“I want to continue to reassure women that I am listening to their concerns.

“Engaging with key stakeholders and suppliers is one of the many steps we take to ensure women have access to the HRT they need.

“We will leave no stone unturned in our mission to increase the supply of YHT. In addition to appointing Madelaine McTernan to lead the HRT task force to apply lessons learned from the outbreak and ensure prescriptions are delivered in shorter cycles for now, we are working with industry to address this issue urgently.

The Daily Mail on Saturday published a manifesto calling for urgent changes in the way HRT drugs are prescribed, processed and dispensed.

It also requires an urgent curriculum change that makes it mandatory for medical students to teach menopause and for women to learn about menopause during NHS health checkups.

Many women’s symptoms were so severe that they lost their jobs or committed suicide. Others had to pay up to eight times the NHS price for HRT products at specialty online pharmacies or drive for hours in a postcode lottery to find their medication.

Jane Pangbourne, founder of the HRT Truth Collective, said, “As the menopause support community, we’ve all worked hard to help those who want to access HRT, and more recently the Mail’s menopause manifesto was a key part of that. . †

Ms. McTernan said the discussions were constructive.