STAT November 28, 2023
Hormone replacement therapies have long been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use by cisgender patients, such as women who take estrogen when going through menopause. Now, for the first time, a nonprofit group is pursuing research with the goal of FDA approval for the use of estrogen as a gender-affirming treatment for transgender and gender-diverse patients.
The group, the Research Institute for Gender Therapeutics (RIGT), was founded earlier this year with the mission of obtaining approval for gender-affirming hormones, which are currently prescribed to patients off-label without an explicit approval for trans health care. RIGT submitted a development plan to the FDA for a Phase 3 clinical trial focused on estradiol — the most common form of...