Manufacturers struggle to keep up with soaring demand for HRT

theguardian.com:

It’s a position that most businesses would love to find themselves in: booming demand for their products.

But soaring requests for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) among British women going through menopause have seen some manufacturers fail to keep up, leading to months of supply shortages and stories of women struggling to sleep or work effectively after being unable to obtain their prescriptions.

Several HRT drug providers describe it as the ‘Davina effect’: the documentary Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause, fronted by the TV presenter, which was first broadcast on Channel 4 in May 2021, sparking an immediate surge in demand.

Yet almost a year later, this shows no signs of abating. Demand for HRT products surged by 30% in the month after the broadcast, according to Theramex, a global pharmaceutical company focused on women’s health.

Orders continued to grow through the year, climbing by 130% during the second half of 2021, according to Tina Backhouse, UK country manager for women’s health at Theramex.

Millions of women go through the menopause each year, and many experience a range of symptoms, which can be severe, including anxiety, low mood, hot flushes and difficulties sleeping.

“As an industry we didn’t have any warning of [the documentary],” Backhouse said. Theramex subsequently increased manufacturing of its HRT products, which are made in Germany, but this is continually under review.

“Every month we are looking at it and putting it up again. I thought at the worst we’d have nine to 12 months of safety stock in the warehouse and that is not the case. But we are bringing in enough.”

However, the company, owned by private equity firms PAI Partners and Carlyle, said ramping up production has required