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GP and women's health professionals study day, UCLH, London (2026)

20/04/2026

Here is a Phase 2, Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial to Investigate the Efficacy and Safety of 2 Doses of Vipoglanstat in Patients With Moderate to Severe Endometriosis-related Pain - the NOVA Trial.
Vipoglanstat is being developed as an oral, non-hormonal, non-opioid medicine for treating symptoms of endometriosis, such as pain during and between menstrual periods.
Vipoglanstat blocks the action of a specific enzyme called microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1). This enzyme is important for the development of endometriosis and causes both pain and
inflammation. Vipoglanstat has been tested in endometriosis disease models, where it
significantly reduced both pain and endometriotic lesions. Vipoglanstat is considered an ‘investigational’ medication in this study because it is in development and has not been approved for endometriosis-related pain by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency).
The study is aiming to recruit around 380 women into this study in around 50 study sites in the European Union and the United Kingdom. Participants will be in the study for about 6 to 10 months, depending on their current treatment for endometriosis-related symptoms.
Do support it share information about the study with those who may be interested.
Contact details for study -
Novaendo@nbt.nhs.uk
T: 0117 414 8102 / 0117 414 8136 (Clinical Research Centre), North Bristol NHS Trust, Southmead Hospital, Bristol

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07260669

19/04/2026

Here is an interesting study from Allison Eubanks and Katerina Shvartsman that evaluated the role of social media in promoting menopause-related supplements and assessed the evidence supporting their efficacy and safety through observational content analysis of public Instagram posts using menopause-related hashtags.

A dataset of 1000 Instagram posts was retrieved using 10 menopause-related hashtags. Using a newly created Instagram account, authors reviewed the top 100 posts from each of the 10 most popular menopause hashtags. Posts advertising branded oral supplements were categorised by poster type and message intent. The 20 most frequently promoted supplements were analysed for active ingredients, monthly cost, and evidence-based efficacy. Data was collected in June 2024. Main outcome measures were - Poster background, content category, ingredient profile, product cost, and safety and efficacy data.

What did the results show?
Of 1000 Instagram posts reviewed, 661 (66.1%) promoted branded menopause supplements. 18.3% were authored by credentialed clinicians, while most were posted by businesses (30.4%) or non-clinical individuals (51.3%). Only a small proportion of supplement posts were authored by clinicians, leaving a gap in evidence-based information. Among the top 20 advertised supplements, common ingredients showed inconsistent evidence. Nearly half (45%) contained proprietary blends, limiting transparency. The average monthly cost was $43.49 (USD).

The authors concluded that menopause supplement marketing on Instagram is dominated by non-clinicians and often lacks supporting evidence (in absence of robust large studies conducted) or regulatory oversight and that clinicians should be aware of this online landscape and address supplement use during patient consultations.

The strength of the study is its structured classification of post content and supplement composition while the main limitations include the subjectivity in classifying poster identity and intent, restriction to a single platform and the snapshot nature of the data collection.

https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1471-0528.70242

18/04/2026

Here is a study from Kami Abdullayev and Prof Aimee Spector from University College London looking at experiences of menstrual symptom management in primary care in the UK. The study involves an online survey open to both patients/members of the public and primary care clinicians, giving them the chance to share their experiences anonymously, whether that's navigating care as a patient or delivering it as a clinician.

The goal is to better understand the challenges people face, the support currently being offered, and what people feel would genuinely help. In the longer term, we hope the findings will inform the development of evidence-based guidelines and interventions to improve menstrual healthcare experiences and expand the range of treatment options available.

Here is the link and clinician/patient posters -
https://qualtrics.ucl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_0vPYvclzOtez99s

Please participate or share widely 🙏🏼

16/04/2026

Join us next Tuesday in the free clinical webinar organised by The Menopause Consortium (TMC) who are committed to supporting clinicians with evidence-based, practical education in women’s health.

Topic - Non-Hormonal Treatments for Menopause including novel NK3 receptor antagonists
Delivered by
🔹 Dr Wendy Knoops (TMC Scotland)
🔹 Dr Natasha Davidson Davidson (TMC England)
and
🔹 Associate Professor Vikram Sinai Talaulikar
🗓 Date: Tuesday 21st April 2026
⏰ Time: 19:30
💻 Location: Online (via Streamyard)

The session is designed for GPs, nurses, pharmacists and allied healthcare professionals, focusing on non-hormonal management of menopause symptoms, including:
✔️ Evidence-based non-hormonal treatment options
✔️ Prescribing considerations in primary care
✔️ Support for women unable or choosing not to use MHT
✔️ Practical, real-world clinical guidance

🔗 Register here: https://streamyard.com/watch/v2djRTn5MiZ4

Thank you TMC for this opportunity 🙏🏼

13/04/2026

Looking forward to contributing to the 5-week Online Menopause After Cancer programme (for under 30s) that has been created specifically for young people who have experienced treatment-induced menopause after any type of cancer. It offers a safe, supportive space alongside advice from medical experts to understand what’s happening in the body, make sense of the symptoms, and connect with others who truly get it.

Across five weekly online sessions, the programme will cover -
07:00 PM - 08:15 PM
Session 1 - Tuesday 14th April
“Why Is This Happening to Me?” - Understanding treatment-induced menopause after any type of cancer when you’re young with Ellie Waters-Barnes
07:00 PM - 08:15 PM
Session 2 - Wednesday 29th April
What can your doctors do for you to help managing symptoms when such as hot flushes, s*xual health, night sweats, bladder issues, joint aches and pains, anxiety, low mood. With Mr Vikram Talaulikar
07:00 PM - 08:15 PM
Session 3 - Tuesday 12th May
What can you do for yourself to help manage symptoms when options feel limited – with Trekstock.
07:00 PM - 08:15 PM
Session 4 - Tuesday 26th May
Body image, s*x, dating & fertility grief with speaker Shelley Syme
07:00 PM - 08:15 PM
Session 5 - Tuesday 9th June
Looking forward (even when it’s scary) - what's next and how to plan. With Shine Cancer Support.

Thank you Menopause and Cancer CIC for making this possible.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/life-in-menopause-after-cancer-under-30s-programme-tickets-1983261748277

11/04/2026

Yesterday’s afternoon menopause clinic learning was extra special with all trainees/colleagues being pharmacists specialising in women’s health and seeing women in their areas of clinical practice day in and out. There is so much one can mutually learn between disciplines.

We discussed challenging clinical scenarios such as extreme progesterone/progestogen sensitivity, role of tibolone and long cycle HRT regimen in such situations, cervical stenosis following cancer treatment with radiotherapy and the importance of non-bleed HRT to prevent uterine collection, problems with bleeding when mixing different types of oestrogen HRT preparations together off license and not providing enough progesterone in that scenario, problems with blood testing for testosterone levels when there is poor correlation with clinical symptoms, benefits versus risks of HRT on background of breast cancer, gut related side effects of progesterone/progestogens for some patients and the best HRT options in that situation and finally, emergence of new treatments such as oral orexin receptor antagonists used to treat chronic insomnia and wherever do they fit into menopause management alongside HRT.

A big thank you to them all for their dedication towards continuing medical education and updating me with lots of practical pharmacy medicine dispensing information. Looking forward to the next clinic.

07/04/2026

A team of researchers at University College Dublin's Body Lab are recruiting participants for an important study on the menopause transition.
This research explores how women experience their bodies and emotions during perimenopause and postmenopause, looking at emotion regulation, bodily awareness, and psychological wellbeing.
Participants will be eligible if they are:
• Living in Ireland or the UK
• Currently experiencing perimenopause or postmenopause
• Comfortable completing an online questionnaire
Participation is fully online and involves filling out a quick survey!

Click the link to participate: https://run.pavlovia.org/pavlovia/survey-2025.2.0/?surveyId=eedd8291-04c2-4a94-93b6-2a243b95db39

Thank you Dr Akansha Naraindas and Tanya M for this study.
Please participate in, share or support this research 🙏🏼 if you can.

05/04/2026

In the current climate where there is immense pressure on healthcare resources, patient support groups and charities are playing a vital role in getting closer to the goal of reaching everyone. They are providing support and helping individuals with educational and information resources or signposting them to relevant healthcare organisations. They are campaigning for positive change and better research and care pathways.

Despite progress in Women’s Health in the recent years, we still have a long way to go as not everyone has universal access to such support and gaps/barriers remain due to geographical, financial, socio-cultural and health professional education related factors.

A big shoutout to four charities who have been working tirelessly this year to make change happen. There are many others…..

Please support the charities or not for profit organisations by donating or sharing information about them with people who may need them or could support their work.

Menopause and Cancer
https://menopauseandcancer.org

Menopause Research and Education Fund
https://mref.uk

Menopause Support
https://menopausesupport.co.uk

Verity PCOS
https://www.verity-pcos.org.uk

03/04/2026

Menopausal symptoms including vasomotor, non-vasomotor and genitourinary can significantly impair quality of life and adherence to therapy. Non-hormonal treatments are the first-line options but may not work for all. Evidence suggests that low-dose vaginal oestrogen can relieve genitourinary symptoms with minimal systemic absorption and without clear evidence of increased recurrence risk for most. Systemic HRT remains generally contraindicated but debated, with existing data confounded by differences in study design, hormone formulations, and patient selection.

Management in this scenario needs individualisation, balancing symptom severity, recurrence risk, quality of life and patient choice. Multidisciplinary and shared decision-making remain essential to minimise adverse late effects of cancer treatment and optimise long-term quality of life and health.

Do join us if you can on this course aimed at Clinical Nurse Specialists, Breast Care Nurses, Oncologists, Surgeons, Women’s Health Specialists & Allied HCPs on 6th May, 2026. We will discuss the current clinical evidence and decision making.

Thank you Dani Binnington and Menopause and Cancer team for this educational event!

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cpd-webinar-managing-menopause-after-breast-cancers-tickets-1979857254344?aff=erellivmlt

31/03/2026

It’s time for our next Midlife Matters meeting! We started these short menopause webinars during the COVID pandemic and we are 6 years on and running…….

Come along, share your experience, ask questions - everyone is invited.

Join us this Thursday 2nd April 6:30 pm when we focus on - ‘Non-hormonal treatments for menopause symptoms - Where do they have a role? Do they work? Which are best ones and what about the novel NK3 receptor antagonist medications?’.

Thank you Roger Prentis and Katie Day at Midlife Matters for the opportunity as always.

To join - search for Midlife Matters Menopause Meetings on tickettailor.com website or click
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/rdpi/1033447

28/03/2026

This qualitative study formed part of the MARIE-Brazil chapter as part of work-package (WP)2-a to investigate perimenopausal, menopausal and post-menopausal experiences. The Brazilian chapter sought to explore lived experiences of menopause, with a focus on symptom trajectories, coping practices, and health system engagement. The study followed COREQ guidelines to ensure transparency and rigour.

Participants were purposively recruited to capture variation across age, menopausal stage (peri-, natural post-, and surgical menopause), socioeconomic position, and healthcare access (public vs private). Recruitment strategies included outreach through community networks, women’s health organisations, and healthcare clinics. Eligibility criteria included: (i) self-identification as experiencing perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause; (ii) age between 40 and 65 years; and (iii) residence in Brazil for ≥12 months.

What finding did we note?
Menopause in Brazil is shaped by complex intersections of biology, culture, socio-economic position, and health system capacity. Women’s experiences highlight persistent inequities in recognition, access, and management, with informal networks often compensating for gaps in formal care.

Participants reported vasomotor symptoms, sleep disturbance, cognitive difficulties, and urogenital changes that influenced quality of life and occupational participation. Barriers to care included limited clinical knowledge, fragmented pathways, and financial inaccessibility of treatments. Cultural stigma, gender norms, and workplace discrimination further exacerbated inequities, particularly among women with multimorbidities or marginalised identities.

Addressing these challenges requires health system strengthening, clinician training, equitable access to therapies, and culturally sensitive public health communication. Embedding menopause within Brazil’s broader population health and policy agendas is essential to advance equity and improve quality of life for millions of women.

https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202510.1062

Incorporating lived experiences into service design and policy frameworks is critical to promoting equity in menopause care across diverse global settings.

A big thank you to Cristina Benetti-Pinto, Peter Phiri, Gayathri Delanerolle and the whole MARIE team for this painstaking work.

25/03/2026

Psychosis is associated with s*x differences that are rarely considered in routine clinical care. Oestrogen exerts protective effects, with symptom exacerbation and increased relapse risk occurring during low-oestrogen states, such as perimenstruation, postpartum, and menopause transition. Antipsychotic pharmacokinetics and response vary by s*x and hormonal status, with premenopausal women requiring lower doses, and postmenopausal women showing reduced treatment efficacy. Current treatment guidelines remain largely s*x neutral. Our review outlines the role of ovarian hormones in psychosis and offers practical considerations to support the first steps towards implementing hormone-informed care, providing a conceptual framework to guide clinical decision making with the aim of improving outcomes for women with psychosis across the lifespan.

A massive thank you to Bodyl Brand, Sophie Behrman, Katie Marwick, Thomas Reilly and Robert McCutcheon for this important piece of work and the opportunity to be involved.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215036626000167

GP and women's health professionals study day

20/04/2026

19/04/2026

18/04/2026

16/04/2026

13/04/2026

11/04/2026

07/04/2026

05/04/2026

03/04/2026

31/03/2026

28/03/2026

25/03/2026

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