A brand-new drug might be able to help ease two of the worst complaints that women go through during menopause.
The drug is called Pool 7, Compound 3 (P7C3), and it might help women who are not yet menopausal stop losing bones and putting on weight. The drug is also being thought about as a possible treatment for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other similar brain diseases.
Melanie Coathup, who was in charge of the study, said, “Right now, drugs used to stop bone loss after menopause target certain cells or proteins.” She said, “They therefore tend to cause problems after long-term use, or through secondary complications to other unrelated tissues in the body.”
Women who are going through or are close to menopause haven’t had a drug or long-term care until now. Women have been living with health problems and effects of menopause for a long time without any treatments. That is, until recently, when there was a rush to make a market for menopause symptom treatments.
“There is a significant gap in ways of medically supporting women following menopause — and P7C3 may give hope that a new alternative is on the horizon,” said Cauthup.
It was first tried on mice, whose bones got stronger after being exposed to it. Coathup said about the results, “Even though our models had little to no estrogen, the bone stayed strong—it was harder to break with a machine.”
More than 70% of people over the age of 80 have osteoporosis, making it a very common disease in older people. The drug might also help with this because it stops cells from breaking down bone.
Coathup said, “One important thing to remember is that P7C3 may not only have fewer unwanted side effects but may also improve the health of many tissues besides bone and fat, such as our muscles, memory, and cognition.”
