According to new research published this month in Europe’s leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal, women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat menopause symptoms do not have a higher than usual risk of heart attack, especially if they use a cream or skin patch(1). The observational study of over 698,098 healthy Danish women aged 51-69 represents the latest turn on the ongoing debate over the safety of HRT and suggests that large, widely publicized studies linking HRT use to cardiovascular events and breast cancer may not be the last word on treatment. As a result of the declining sales of hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) in recent years caused by such safety concerns, non-hormonal treatments for menopausal symptoms had an estimated revenue potential of over $535million across the US and five major EU markets (UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain) in 2007, according to a new report from independent market analyst Datamonitor "Stakeholder Opinions: Non-hormonal Treatments for Menopausal Symptoms 2008". However, with current developmental drugs failing to provide a substantial reduction in symptoms, their use is expected to be limited to a minority of patients who are unable to take HRT.

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The primary consequence of the credit crunch for non-financial companies is the loss of access to cheap debt

The key impact of the credit crunch on the corporate world is the abrupt loss of cheap debt. During the late 1990s and 2000s companies across all industries have exploited easy access to cheap debt to amplify or ‘leverage’ their return to investors. However, triggered by the sub-prime crisis and the subsequent collapse of big name financial institutions, banks have no choice but to protect their own capital and stop lending – turning off this supply of cheap debt.
 
This leaves those companies that have taken on debt in the extremely uncomfortable position of having to either rapidly pay off their debts (‘deleveraging’) or re-secure new debt at much higher interest rates – potentially threatening the viability of the firm. Datamonitor believes that large pharmaceutical companies have wisely stayed out of the cheap debt game and as a result, the credit crunch will actually play out as a net positive for an industry much in need of good news, according to Datamonitor head of company analysis Dr. Chris Phelps. “Pharma companies are not only expected to weather the financial storm successfully but to also use this period to exploit their unique cash strength by embarking on an acquisition spree.”