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Cyproterone acetate is a synthetic progestogen and potent antiandrogen that has been used in the treatment of hirsutism, alopecia, early puberty, amenorrhea, acne, and prostate cancer, and has also been combined with an estrogen in hormone replacement therapy.
The new findings were published online in the BMJ. The primary analysis showed that, among women using cyproterone acetate, the rate of meningiomas was 23.8 per 100,000 person years vs. 4.5 per 100,000 in the control group. After adjusting for confounders, cyproterone acetate was associated with a sevenfold increased risk of meningioma.
These were young women – the mean age of participants was 29.4 years, and more than 40% of the cohort were younger than 25 years. The initial prescriber was a gynecologist for more than half (56.7%) of the participants, and 31.6% of prescriptions could correspond to the treatment of acne without hirsutism; 13.1% of prescriptions were compatible with management of hirsutism.
“Our study provides confirmation of the risk but also the measurement of the dose-effect relationship, the decrease in the risk after stopping use, and the preferential anatomical localization of meningiomas,” said lead author Alain Weill, MD, EPI-PHARE Scientific Interest Group, Saint-Denis, France.
“A large proportion of meningiomas involve the skull base, which is of considerable importance because skull base meningioma surgery is one of the most challenging forms of surgery and is associated with a much higher risk than surgery for convexity meningiomas,” he said in an interview.
Cyproterone acetate products have been available in Europe since the 1970s under various trade names and dose strengths (1, 2, 10, 50, and 100 mg), and marketed for various indications. These products are also marketed in many other industrialized nations, but not in the United States or Japan.
The link between cyproterone acetate and an increased risk of meningioma has been known for the past decade, and information on the risk of meningioma is already included in the prescribing information for cyproterone products.
Last year, the European Medicines Agency strengthened the warnings that were already in place and recommended that cyproterone products with daily doses of 10 mg or more be restricted because of the risk of developing meningioma.
“The recommendation from the EMA is a direct consequence of our study, that was sent to the EMA in summary form in 2018 and followed up with a very detailed with a report in summer 2019,” said Dr. Weill. “In light of this report, the European Medicines Agency recommended in February 2020 that drugs containing 10 mg or more of cyproterone acetate should only be used for hirsutism, androgenic alopecia, and acne and seborrhea once other treatment options have failed, including treatment with lower doses.”
Dr. Weill pointed out that two other epidemiologic studies have assessed the link between cyproterone acetate use and meningioma and showed an association. “Those studies and our own study are complementary and provide a coherent set of epidemiological evidence,” he said in the interview. “They show a documented risk for high-dose cyproterone acetate in men, women, and transgender people, and the absence of any observed risk for low-dose cyproterone acetate use in women.”