Marty Makary: The FDA Liberates Women’s Hormone Replacement Therapy

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Nov. 10, 2025 7:30 am ET | Marty Makary

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Over the past two decades, tens of millions of women have been denied or not offered hormone replacement therapy or have otherwise avoided it because of a medical dogma that it would increase their risk of dying of breast cancer. Clinical trials, however, don’t support that association. It’s time to treat women’s health with rigorous science instead of fear and misinformation.

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requesting that drug manufacturers remove black box warnings from these products. These are the strongest drug warning the agency can require, and they have inappropriately scared women off from this life-changing, and sometimes life-saving, treatment.

Hormone replacement therapy, which consists of estrogen and progesterone (or estrogen alone for women who have had a hysterectomy), is a breakthrough for many women. It alleviates the short-term symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings and weight gain, and when started within 10 years of menopause it has underappreciated long-term health benefits that even doctors may not be familiar with.

A 1991 review from the University of California San Diego found that HRT may reduce the risk of fatal coronary events by approximately 50%. Several other studies have affirmed this benefit. Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in women, claiming more than 300,000 lives annually. HRT’s cardiac benefits may be even more effective than statins at reducing the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

HRT also has powerful cognitive benefits. A 2005 study from Denmark found that HRT use was associated with a 64% reduction in cognitive decline. And a 1996 study from the University of Southern California found that women using estrogen replacement therapy had a 35% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared with nonusers—a far better outcome than blockbuster Alzheimer’s drugs, which cost tens of thousands of...

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[Freee-dame]

“ Even though the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative finding on nonfatal breast cancer wasn’t statistically significant”

Thankfully there is some honesty and common sense coming back to the top health officials in the USA.

[ridesthemiles]

MY BODY-—MY CHOICE