On October 20, 2026, The Menopause Society released results ahead of its Annual Meeting in San Diego (October 20–24) for MenoZen VR. The program delivers cognitive behavioral therapy for menopause symptoms through a consumer Meta Quest 3S headset, guided by an AI-driven avatar named Maia. Researchers from Cedars-Sinai's Center for Virtual Medicine, Mayo Clinic and University Hospitals Cleveland built the program. Its modules combine CBT, talk therapy, mindfulness, psychoeducation and paced breathing. The society notes that CBT already has evidence for hot flashes, insomnia, depression and sexual dysfunction in menopause, but that it is hard to find a provider who offers it.

Why It Matters

Immersive tech in sexual wellness has mostly meant adult content and haptics. This is a different and more defensible use: medical-grade content on mass-market hardware, targeting a symptom cluster that includes sexual dysfunction. The release cites a striking access gap: only **1.7%** of U.S. women used hormone therapy in 2023. So a scalable non-drug option has an obvious market, especially for women who can't or won't use estrogen, such as breast-cancer survivors. The business question is distribution. A Quest-based therapy needs either a prescribing pathway (digital therapeutics clearance and reimbursement) or bundling into menopause telehealth platforms like [Midi and Allara](/stories/allara-30m-womens-hormonal-care), which are hunting for differentiated non-hormonal tools now that [ACP](/stories/acp-menopause-hormone-therapy-first-line) and ACOG have made HRT first-line. Treat the 20-woman study as a usability test, not evidence that it works. The Phase 2 readout in 2027 is the real test.

What the study actually showed. It was a small qualitative feasibility study, not an efficacy trial. Patient Care Online reports that between August and November 2025, investigators recruited 20 women aged 45 to 60 from Mayo's Jacksonville midlife clinic. All had bothersome hot flashes (at least 28 a week) and none were on hormone therapy. Each used the program for one 45-minute session. All 20 said they would use it again and recommend it, and every participant described Maia as nonjudgmental. Most (65%) had little or no prior VR experience. Lead author Dr. Karisma Suchak described the result as "early feasibility and acceptability." Menopause Society medical director Dr. Stephanie Faubion, a study author, said "larger studies are needed to determine clinical effectiveness." No symptom-reduction data were reported.

What comes next. Next Reality reports that Mayo began recruiting on September 28 for a Phase 2 trial (NCT07633743). Participants do one self-administered session a week for eight weeks, and the trial tracks hot-flash frequency and severity alongside sleep, mood, anxiety and quality of life, with primary completion listed as July 31, 2027. The registry does not yet specify a comparator arm or enrollment target. The eligibility rules screen out women on HRT, fezolinetant, elinzanetant, SSRIs/SNRIs or gabapentin. They also exclude severe vestibular or visual impairments and head shapes that won't fit the headset, which is a reminder that VR therapy has its own accessibility limits.

Sources

Update — 2026-10-21

Initial entry — story first created.