Head of German medicines body likens HRT to thalidomide

Doctors in Germany should drastically reduce the amount of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that they prescribe to older women, a key commission has recommended.

Issuing its first guidelines on HRT to doctors in Germany, the country's Commission on the Safety of Medicines said that new international studies had shown that the risks of HRT clearly outweighed the benefits.

It recommended that doctors offer the treatment only to women with particularly severe menopausal symptoms. It also recommended that treatment …