The Food and Drug Administrated (FDA) advises women to talk with their health care providers about all the risks of taking hormone medicines., If they decide that hormone therapy (HT) is appropriate, they should take the lowest dose that works for them for the shortest time. The FDA also states that women should not take HT if they:
- Think they are pregnant
- Have unusual vaginal bleeding
- Have or have had blood clots
- Have certain cancers such as breast and uterine
- Have liver problems
- Have had a stroke or heart attack in the past year
Estrogen-only Products FDA-approved for Postmenopausal Use
|
Oral tablet product and manufacturer
|
Estrogen type
|
Skin patch product and manufacturer
|
Vaginal form product and manufacturer
|
|
Premarin®
(Wyeth-Ayerst)
|
Conjugated estrogens
|
Not available
|
Premarin vaginal cream
(Wyeth-Ayerst)
|
|
Estrace®
(Warner Chilcott)
Vagifem® (Novonordisk)
|
Estradiol
|
*Matrix patch:
Alora® (Watson Labs)
Climara® (Berlex)
Esclim® (Women First HealthCare)
Vivelle®, Vivelle-Dot®, (Novartis)
Menostar® (only used to prevent osteoporosis) (Bayer Schering Pharma)
+Reservoir patch: Estraderm® (Novartis)
|
Estrace vaginal cream
(Warner Chilcott)
Estring® vaginal insert
(Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc.)
Estrasorb® skin cream (emulsion) (Esprit Pharma)
Estrogel® gel (Ascend Therapeutics)
|
|
Cenestin®
(Duramed)
|
Synthetic conjugated estrogens
|
Not available
|
Not available
|
|
Ogen®
(Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc.)
|
Esrtopipate
|
Not available
|
Ogen vaginal cream
(Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc.)
|
|
Ortho-Est®
(Women First HealthCare)
|
Estropipate
|
Not available
|
Not available
|
|
Menest®
(Monarch)
|
Esterified estrogens
|
Not available
|
Not available
|
* Matrix patches have estrogen dissolved in an adhesive network.
+Reservoir patches have estrogen in a pouch.
Progesterogen-only Products Approved for Postmenopausal Use
|
Product Name and manufacturer
|
Progestogen Type
|
|
Provera® (Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc.),
Aygestin® (Duramed Pharms Barr)
Prometrium
(Unimed Pharms)
|
Progestin: Oral Tablet
Medroxyprogesterone acetate
Norethindrone acetate
Micronized progesterone acetate
|
Combination Estrogen/Progestin (HT) Products Approved for Postmenopausal Use
|
Product Name and manufacturer
|
Composition
|
Regimen
|
|
Prempro®
(Wyeth-Pharms)
|
Conjugated estrogen/medroxyprogesterone
|
Oral: Continuous-Combined
|
|
Femhrt®
(Warner Chilcott)
Activella®
(Novo Nordisk, Inc.)
|
Norethindrone acetate/ethinyl estradiol
Estradiol/norethindrone acetate
|
|
|
Prefest®
(Duramed)
|
Estradiol/norgestimate
|
Oral: Intermittent-Combined
|
|
CombiPatch®
(Novartis)
Climara Pro®
|
Estradiol/norethindrone acetate
Estradiol/norethindrone acetate
|
Skin Patch:
Continuous cycle and Continuous-Combined
|
| |
|
| |
|
External Sources
 | The North American Menopause Society
|
| U.S. Food and Drug Administration
|
|
|
| |
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
|
