Bayer is teaming up with American actress and director Melissa Joan Hart to boost awareness about hot flashes treatment Lynkuet by tapping her personal experiences.
Up to 80% of women report having hot flashes at some point during the menopausal transition, and the symptom is one of the main factors that prompts women to seek menopause treatment, according to Bayer.
Meanwhile, more than one-third of women report experiencing severe vasomotor symptoms, which can last a decade or more after the last menstrual period, the company has said.
And it is a growing issue, as by 2030, Bayer estimates that the global population of women experiencing menopause will increase to 1.2 billion, with some 47 million women entering this stage of their life each year.
To help boost awareness of these symptoms, and Bayer’s hot flashes drug Lynkuet, Hart will share her personal experience with moderate to severe hot flashes due to menopause “to help women recognize their symptoms and to encourage more proactive treatment conversations with their healthcare providers,” according to a statement. Hart is not, however, currently using the drug.
“I thought my days of waking up in the middle of the night were behind me after raising my kids,” said Hart in a release. “Then menopause came along. I knew hot flashes could happen, but I didn't expect them to affect me the way they did. I found myself sometimes waking up at night, this time not because of my kids, but because of severe hot flashes."
“I know I’m not the only woman who has experienced moderate to severe hot flashes due to menopause. I hope sharing my experience encourages women to talk openly with their healthcare providers about their symptoms and treatment options, like Lynkuet.”
She is also asking women to learn more about their treatment options via several initiatives, including a Reddit Ask Me Anything campaign.
The Big Pharma first recruited Gabrielle Union-Wade back in January to serve as a celebrity endorser for the then newly launched medication.
Union-Wade has long been a vocal advocate for a wide range of causes, including many affecting women’s health—from reproductive justice to breast cancer awareness—and is a Lynkuet user herself.
It’s been almost a year now since the FDA approved Bayer’s dual neurokinin (NK) targeted therapy to treat moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms—comprising hot flashes and night sweats—in people with menopause.
Bayer projects annual peak sales for Lynkuet to reach around 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) globally at peak.
Lynkuet comes in a soft gel capsule and is taken once a day at bedtime. The drug competes with Astellas’ Veozah, another nonhormonal menopause symptom drug that targets NK3 but not NK1 and has been on the market since 2023.
Women with menopause also have access to a third nonhormonal treatment in the U.S. in Brisdelle, a reformulation of the decades-old antidepressant paroxetine that was cleared to control hot flashes back in 2013.
Aside from those options, hormone therapy incorporating estrogen alone or with progesterone has long been a benchmark treatment for vasomotor symptoms. Nevertheless, hormone-based therapies aren’t necessarily a good fit for all women, and they carry known risks such as endometrial and breast cancers.