Maligned Hormone Drugs Make Comeback After FDA Removes Warnings

Lea Didion didn’t realize the night sweats she began experiencing in her 40s might be a sign of perimenopause.

Her doctor clued her in and suggested she consider hormone replacement therapy, a once-vilified treatment that has come roaring back to help relieve hot flashes, vaginal dryness and other symptoms women start to experience in mid-life.

Didion soon began seeing a flood of social media posts and news articles about the benefits of hormone therapy, especially as the Food and Drug Administration prepared to ask drugmakers to remove strict black box warnings that had been placed on the medicine since 2003 — product labels that ...