On March 11, 2026, NICE issued Final Draft Guidance recommending Veoza (fezolinetant), manufactured by Astellas Pharma, as the first non-hormonal treatment available on the NHS for moderate to severe hot flushes and night sweats caused by menopause. The decision makes approximately 500,000 women in England eligible for a 45mg once-daily tablet that works by blocking the nerve pathways in the brain that trigger vasomotor symptoms — without the hormonal risks that make HRT unsuitable for many women.
Why It Matters
The Veoza approval is a watershed for menopause care — it gives clinicians the first non-hormonal pharmaceutical option for a condition that affects the majority of women and has a direct, well-documented impact on sexual health and intimacy. For the sex tech industry, the approval validates the growing menopause wellness category and creates a clinical backdrop against which complementary products (lubricants, arousal aids, pelvic health devices) can be positioned as part of an integrated treatment approach.Veoza is specifically recommended for women who cannot take hormone replacement therapy due to medical contraindications, including a history of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or certain cardiovascular risk factors, as well as women who simply decline HRT. The drug is a neurokinin-3 (NK3) receptor antagonist — a novel mechanism of action that targets the brain's thermoregulatory center directly rather than supplementing declining estrogen levels.
NICE's review found Veoza to be "cost effective, offering value for the taxpayer," according to Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE. The approval follows regulatory clearance in multiple markets and represents the culmination of clinical trials demonstrating significant reductions in the frequency and severity of hot flushes compared to placebo. Liver function monitoring is required during treatment.
The decision comes as the menopause wellness market continues its rapid expansion, with femtech companies like Joylux, Womaness, and Evernow building platforms around sexual health and quality-of-life concerns during perimenopause and menopause. An estimated 1 billion women globally will be in perimenopause or menopause by 2030.
Sources
- 500,000 Eligible to Benefit From New Non-Hormonal Treatment — NICE
- NHS to Offer Veoza for Menopause — PharmiWeb
- New Non-Hormonal Menopause Drug Backed by NICE — Medscape
Update — 2026-03-15
Initial entry — story first created.
Update — 2026-07-19
Veoza has now cleared its second UK nation. On July 14–15, 2026, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) recommended Astellas's VEOZA (fezolinetant) 45mg once daily for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms of menopause in patients for whom HRT is unsuitable, making the drug available via NHS Scotland. The SMC — Scotland's counterpart to NICE — noted that around 400,000 women in Scotland are of menopausal age, of whom an estimated 48,000 may benefit from the first neurokinin-targeted therapy it has accepted. Medscape framed it as the "first non-hormonal menopause drug approved in Scotland." Astellas UK Medical Director Dr. Timir Patel welcomed the decision as expanding personalised, non-hormonal options for Scottish women. The dual England-then-Scotland rollout reinforces fezolinetant's trajectory as the reference NK3-antagonist product in the UK menopause market and strengthens the clinical backdrop for menopause-focused sexual wellness (vaginal moisturisers, arousal aids, pelvic-health devices).