A woman applies an HRT patch. Photo: 123RF
A Hawke's Bay GP says women are facing serious physical and mental harm as the shortage of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs reaches emergency level.
Dr Samantha Newman launched a national survey on Friday to collect the real-life experiences of HRT users who have been denied access to their regular medication or have a dwindling supply.
Survey responses showed women were unable to work or parent effectively due to the impact, were getting sick mentally with anxiety, depression and becoming suicidal or physically with sweating, heart palpitations, severe fatigue and joint pain.
"I've had an email from one woman who is frightened for her life," Newman said.
"She was suicidal before her doctor prescribed HRT and now that she can't get it anymore, she is panicking. The stories I hear almost hourly are terrifying.
"I'm deeply worried for the mental, emotional and physical health of HRT users. Will it take a death before the government acts?"
Physical and mental impacts of hormone replacement therapy
The global supply of the oestrogen patches began running out a few years ago but Pharmac was slow to act, she said.
Pharmac said it was doing all it could to ensure continued access to the patches, but it could not prevent some supply gaps and the situation was likely to continue into 2025.
Dr Newman is calling for urgent action from Pharmac and the Ministry of Health to find other options and offer education and support to all those involved on what they could do.
"We need the government to understand that this medication is not a nice-to-have or a lifestyle choice - it's not a supplement, or a vitamin. It's vital medicine and without it, people are in agony."
Users were resorting to cutting their remaining patches in half or paying high costs for alternatives, she said.
"One woman has told us she pays around $200 every couple of months for the gel," she said.
"However as of last week, we now know from the business that imports the gel product that its stock is also on the verge of running out.
"Women have nowhere to turn and no information, and the Ministry of Health, Pharmac and government are telling them nothing."
It was Pharmac's job to plan ahead so people had continued access to their medication, Newman said, questioning why alternatives - including gels, tablets and sprays - were not already approved, in the country and funded for use.
"Over the ditch, Australian authorities have approved alternative brands of patches called Estramon and Estradiol, until their stocks of the popular brand Estradot are replenished this month," she said
The results from the survey will be forwarded to government agencies and David Seymour, the minister responsible for Pharmac.
'We're doing all we can' - Pharmac
Pharmac said the demand for patches had more than doubled from about 1.3 million patches in 2021 to three million in 2023, and that was only expected to grow.
Senior therapeutic group manager Alexandra Compton said they knew people were unable to access some types of patches as there was a global supply issue.
"We're doing all we can to ensure people can continue to access this treatment. We have been working closely with the supplier of oestradiol patches. We have sourced alternative brands of patches to try to keep up with demand," she said.
"Unfortunately, we have not been able to prevent some supply gaps."
Pharmac had recently tendered for a supply of patches and would release more information when a supplier was confirmed, she said.
"Pharmac is undertaking a competitive procurement process for oestradiol gel. We are currently evaluating the proposals we received. We aim to provide more information on this proposal at the end of July."
But she acknowledged they were not quick solutions and the situation was likely to continue into 2025.
Pharmac encouraged people to speak to their health care professional about what treatments were available, saying it funded oestradiol valerate tablets, oestradiol tablets, oestradiol and norethisterone tablets and conjugated equine oestrogen tablets.