Micronised progesterone (Utrogestan®) to be unrestricted and fully funded in New Zealand

Pharmac have recently announced that restrictions on the prescription of Utrogestan® will be removed from 1 December 2022. This will mean that women will be able to access fully funded Utrogestan® for a range of uses, including for menopausal hormone therapy.

The Australasian Menopause Society provided a letter of support to Pharmac in June 2022 supporting the funding of Utrogestan® for MHT as the endometrial protection agent when women require oestrogen for the treatment of menopausal symptoms in the perimenopausal time and also as part of hormone replacement therapy for premature ovarian insufficiency. Being a bioidentical progesterone, international opinion says that it is the safest progesterone to use with the lowest side effect profile. it is considered best practice to use this progesterone as it has a more favourable effect on lipid profiles and potentially less likely to impact on breast cancer risk. It has the additional advantage of having a soporific effect.

More information about the announcement can be found here.

Content updated 26 September 2022