Michigan State University researchers are launching a novel project to transform how medications are developed and prescribed for women.

A US$4.6m award will fund computer models designed to predict how hormonal changes affect the way medicines move through and act in women’s bodies.

The funding is the first instalment of an award worth up to US$12.8m over three years, supporting work intended to account for hormonal changes throughout women’s lives.

Researchers plan to examine factors including menstrual cycles, pregnancy, contraceptive use, menopause and hormone replacement therapy, which can affect responses to medicines.

Teresa K. Woodruff, lead investigator on the project, said: “Because female hormone levels are constantly shifting, precision medicine allows us to map out these complex interactions.

“This NIH-backed initiative will create the first computationally driven clinical tool designed to guide medical care across every stage of a woman’s life.”

The project is led by researchers at Michigan State University and funded by the National Institutes of Health, with collaborators from Rutgers, Emory, Tulane, the University of Colorado Anschutz, the University of Michigan and the University of Utah.

Thirteen researchers will develop computational models to predict how changes in female hormones influence the way medicines move through and act within the body.

The work is part of the NIH Computational Modeling of Hormone Homeostasis Initiative, which is awarding US$21m nationally to support research into sex-specific hormonal biology.

The team plans to use artificial intelligence to digitise and organise more than 40 years of hormone research data in a publicly accessible database.

Researchers will also develop a standard computer model of a 28-day menstrual cycle, alongside models of how hormones regulate organs and tissues involved in processing nutrients, including the liver, muscle and fat.

Real-world patient data will then be used to expand the models to represent groups including women going through menopause or taking birth control, as well as women with conditions such as diabetes and obesity.

The project will also use three-dimensional human tissue models and lab-grown organoids, including liver, muscle and ovarian tissue, to test and refine the computer predictions.

Researchers plan to examine medicines including metformin, insulin and GLP-1 drugs, with the aim of developing tools that could help clinicians tailor doses and avoid harmful side effects.

Qiang Zhang, associate professor at Emory University, said: “Empowered by AI, novel assays and legacy human data, we will develop mechanistically based computational models of female physiology that can make translational, quantitative predictions for women’s responses to metabolic therapies.”

The researchers said the work could help address differences in how women respond to treatments for metabolic conditions including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cholesterol imbalances and thyroid disorders.

Nanette Santoro, professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz and president of the Endocrine Society, said: “Women experience large shifts in reproductive hormones at several points in their lifespan: puberty, pregnancy and menopause.

“During reproductive years, women also undergo profound day-to-day changes in reproductive hormone levels, giving them a markedly different endocrine backdrop than men.

“Using state-of-the-art computational technology to examine how these changes interact with commonly used medications is a critical pathway toward supporting life-course women’s health.”

The project team said its computer models and data will be made freely available to researchers and healthcare professionals when the work is completed.

Gail’s has unveiled a menopause action plan offering new workplace support to thousands of staff ahead of legal reforms due in 2027.

The high street bakery chain will offer new benefits including 24/7 digital GP access and a new employee assistance programme, according to The Times.

It will also explore new online training for staff, including specific training for management.

Gail’s people director Miranda Burgum told The Times: “All we’re trying to do is talk freely and for it not to be a forbidden subject. It’s helping our managers and teams understand that this isn’t a taboo.”

“We’re going to develop the education with our managers, so it will be threaded through all our policies

“It will look at induction training, it will look at the types of people we need to make sure that we make reasonable adjustments for.

“And if somebody needs some sort of risk assessment, we’re going to be looking at [that].”

The move comes ahead of reforms due to be introduced in spring 2027 under the Employment Rights Act.

UK employers with 250 or more employees will be legally required to publish and update official menopause action plans.

The plans are intended to support employers to take effective action to improve workplace gender equality and support employees experiencing menopause.

Hormone therapy started in peri- or early post-menopause was linked to a 22 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular events in women with vasomotor symptoms in a recent study.

The findings came from an observational analysis of 20 years of health data and do not show that hormone therapy caused the reduction in cardiovascular risk.

The association was strongest among Black women and women who started treatment within 10 years of menopause onset, although researchers cautioned that the findings should not guide clinical practice.

The study is the first of its kind in the US to assess the risk of future cardiovascular events among women with vasomotor symptoms who use hormone therapy during peri- and early postmenopause.

Samar R. El Khoudary, professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the VCU School of Public Health and one of the study’s senior researchers, said: “The menopause transition represents a critical window for understanding how hormone therapy may relate to cardiovascular disease risk. Our findings suggest that timing of initiation may influence cardiovascular outcomes.”

The researchers stressed that the findings do not support using hormone therapy to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Potential benefits must also be weighed against risks, including the increased breast cancer risk observed with longer-term use.

The study was not a randomised controlled trial, the gold-standard method for testing biomedical treatments.

Rebecca C. Thurston, associate dean for Women’s Health Research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and one of the study’s senior researchers, said: “These findings point to women with vasomotor symptoms as those who may show cardiovascular benefit from hormone therapy initiated during the perimenopause and postmenopausal years.

“However, conclusions should be tempered by the observational nature of the study, and findings should not guide clinical practice.”

Vasomotor symptoms, meaning hot flushes and night sweats, affect up to 80 per cent of women during the menopause transition and last for an average of seven to ten years.

Their frequency and severity build through perimenopause and typically peak in early postmenopause.

Hormone therapy replaces oestrogen and progesterone that women’s bodies stop producing after menopause and is currently the most effective treatment for these symptoms.

Clinical trials led by the Women’s Health Initiative in the early 2000s raised concerns about hormone therapy’s impact on heart disease, stroke, breast cancer and other risks, leading to years of reluctance among patients and providers to use the treatment.

El Khoudary said: “Hot flashes and night sweats have a significant impact on a woman’s quality of life and ability to work productively.

“While hormone therapy is an effective treatment for these symptoms, questions have remained about its cardiovascular effects, particularly the importance of when treatment is initiated during the menopause transition.”

More recent research suggests the effects of hormone therapy on the heart and vascular system may vary by age and treatment timing, with women younger than 60 who start treatment closer to menopause onset having different levels of risk.

In 2026, the US Food and Drug Administration removed “black box” warnings from hormone therapy products, reflecting evolving evidence on the benefits and risks of treatment.

Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Pittsburgh analysed data from more than 2,700 women taking part in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN).

The women reported vasomotor symptoms and had not previously experienced cardiovascular events.

Clinical data collected between 1997 and 2017 were used to examine whether women who started hormone therapy for vasomotor symptoms were more or less likely to experience stroke, congestive heart failure, heart attack or revascularisation procedures than women who did not start treatment.

El Khoudary said: “By using data from the SWAN study, we essentially were able to emulate a series of hypothetical clinical trials to gain a deeper understanding into how hormone therapy taken to mitigate vasomotor symptoms during peri- and early postmenopause influences cardiovascular risk over time.

“It allowed us to examine clinically meaningful cardiovascular disease events over long-term follow-up in a population and treatment window that has been challenging to study prospectively.”

Starting hormone therapy during peri- or early postmenopause was associated with an estimated 22 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular disease events.

Women who began hormone therapy within 10 years of menopause onset had an estimated 27 per cent lower risk compared with women who did not start treatment.

Among Black women, starting therapy during peri- or early postmenopause was associated with an estimated 49 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular disease events.

No clear reduction was seen among women who started therapy more than 10 years after menopause onset or among White women and other racial and ethnic groups.

El Khoudary said: “The differences in cardiovascular outcomes by race and ethnicity are notable, particularly because Black women are more likely to experience severe vasomotor symptoms.

“These findings highlight the need to better understand how hormone therapy timing may influence cardiovascular outcomes across diverse populations.”

It remains unclear why cardiovascular risk differed according to when hormone therapy was started, although researchers believe differences in blood vessel health with age may play a role.