Maybe menopause doesn’t have to happen

The headline of Sumathi Reddy’s story in the Wall Street Journal poses a provocative question: “What if we could get rid of menopause?” And the piece is anything but a mere thought exercise on the subject. It turns out that scientists, mostly women scientists, are already on the case. Reddy details several potential treatments, most of which “focus on slowing the rate at which a woman’s follicles and eggs are lost.” One possibility is to repurpose existing drugs, particularly the kidney transplant drug rapamycin, which appears to slow ovarian aging in mice. Another is to engineer cells to achieve the same result, which biotech companies including Gamete are working on. But Reddy’s story also focuses on the “why” of such a move, and the answer runs deep: Women can lead longer, healthier lives.

“Menopause is the single greatest accelerator of the diseases of aging for women across the board, whether it’s heart disease and stroke, autoimmune disorders, osteoporosis or cognitive decline,” says Piraye Yurttas Beim of another biotech firm, Celmatix. As Reddy explains, when a woman’s ovaries stop working and releasing vital hormones, the aging process accelerates, along with a host of health risks. Another factor: If women could take medication to better regulate the whole process throughout their lives, it would change the old thinking about the “biological clock.” Reddy includes the views of skeptics who care about messing with the natural process. But Dr. Zev Williams of Columbia University suggests it’s time to end the “entrenched” belief that menopause as we know it has to occur. (Read the full story.)