About two in three US women who took the non-hormonal drug elinzanetant had at least half of their moderate-to-severe hot flashes disappear within three months, according to Contemporary OB/GYN's report of a new analysis. About four in ten women on placebo had the same result.
This article is based on that report. The study itself, a poster presented at The Menopause Society 2026 Annual Meeting in San Diego, was not reviewed.
Hot flashes, also called vasomotor symptoms, are common during the menopause transition. According to Contemporary OB/GYN, they can hurt quality of life. Elinzanetant blocks two brain signaling targets, the neurokinin 1 and neurokinin 3 receptors. The outlet reports it is approved in the United States for moderate-to-severe hot flashes due to menopause.
The new work pooled US data from two phase 3 trials, OASIS-1 and OASIS-2. According to the report, the analysis included 410 postmenopausal participants aged 40 to 65 who had at least 50 moderate-to-severe hot flashes per week. Half received 120 mg of elinzanetant and half received placebo for 12 weeks. After that, both groups received elinzanetant for 14 more weeks. Participants logged their hot flashes in daily diaries.
From weeks 4 to 12, 66.9% of the elinzanetant group had a reduction of at least 50% in the frequency of moderate-to-severe hot flashes, compared with 40.5% of the placebo group, according to the report. A reduction of at least 75% was seen in 46.5% versus 21.4%. A reduction of at least 90% was seen in 29.1% versus 11.6%. The placebo figure matters. Four in ten people on a dummy pill still had a 50% drop. That shows hot flash counts can fall for reasons other than the drug. The gap between the groups is the more useful comparison.
The response came early. According to the report, more than half of US participants on elinzanetant had a 50% reduction by week 4. At that point, 17.4% had a reduction of at least 90%.
At week 26, everyone had been taking elinzanetant. Contemporary OB/GYN reports that 75.2% of the original elinzanetant group and 84.1% of the placebo-to-elinzanetant group had at least a 50% reduction. For a 90% reduction, the figures were 40.4% and 39.8%. Even then, about six in ten people did not reach that level.
There are limits. According to the report, this was an exploratory, post hoc analysis, meaning it looked at a subgroup after the main trials were done. Such analyses are better for raising questions than settling them. The coverage did not report safety data for this analysis. The report says the authors found results comparable to those in the overall trial population.
Whether the full poster or a peer-reviewed paper confirms these figures, and how the drug performs over longer periods and in everyday use. Anyone considering starting or stopping a menopause treatment should talk with their own clinician first.
Source: Contemporary OB/GYN
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