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The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has updated its guidelines for menopause treatments for the first time since 2014, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and New Jersey.
- District of Columbia: ACOG has updated its guidelines for menopause treatments for the first time since 2014. Currently, around 2 million people begin menopause each year, with the average age being 49.9 years. However, symptoms of menopause can begin years before an individual's final menstrual period. In the new guidelines, the organization recommends hormone replacement therapy, along with antidepressants, nonhormonal medicines, and other treatments, to treat symptoms of menopause, like hot flashes, insomnia, and mood swings. "What's changing is the breadth of options that we now have … And the benefit of that is that we are better equipped to be able to take an individualized approach for patients," said Catherine Cansino, an ob/gyn and chair of ACOG's Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines who co-authored the new guidelines. Cansino also emphasized that patients should talk to trusted clinicians about the pros and cons of the different treatments and avoid having "tunnel vision" about a single option. "There's a lot of misinformation out there and exaggerated claims about hormone therapy, and so some people end up taking risks when they shouldn't," she said. (Firth, NPR, 10/16)
- Maryland: FDA has approved AbbVie's new medication, Juvmo, to treat Parkinson's. Juvmo is an oral selective D1/D5 dopamine agonist that can help manage Parkinson's symptoms and reduce reliance on oral levodopa escalation. It is the first D1/D5 receptor agonist approved to treat Parkinson's. Other similar medications primarily target D2/D3 receptors. In clinical trials, Juvmo significantly reduced combined scores on parts II and III of the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and increased daily "on" time without troublesome dyskinesia. Most of the adverse side effects in the trials were nonserious and mild or moderate in severity. "Parkinson's disease treatment has long required healthcare providers to balance the need for dependable motor symptom control with considerations around treatment tolerability," said Hubert Fernandez, the principal investigator for the clinical trials. "Now we have a novel therapy that selectively targets D1/D5 receptors, which addresses a longstanding need for innovation and provides healthcare providers with greater flexibility to tailor treatment to individual patient needs." (George, MedPage Today, 9/28)
- New Jersey: Novo Nordisk recently reported that its Wegovy injection helped children with obesity lose weight in a clinical trial, with roughly 40% no longer classified as obese after 68 weeks. In the trial, over 85% of children ages six to 11 had either class 2 or 3 severe obesity, which would correspond to a body mass index of at least 35 or 40 in adults. The patients were treated with a combination of Wegovy, a lower-calorie diet, and increased physical activity. By week 68, 40.4% of patients on Wegovy were no longer classified as having obesity, compared to 0% of patients who received a placebo. "We are encouraged by the positive STEP Young results and semaglutide's potential to help children living with obesity who need medical treatment, alongside lifestyle changes, to better manage their obesity," said Novo's chief scientific officer Martin Holst Lange. "This may prevent serious health risks later in life." Currently, Wegovy and other GLP-1 drugs are only approved for people ages 12 and older, but they are increasingly being prescribed off-label to younger children. (Calatayud, Wall Street Journal, 9/7; Taylor, Fierce Pharma, 9/8)
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