What is Evana^®?

What is Evana^® Heavy Period Relief 500 mg Tablets?

Evana is a pharmacy-only treatment that contains 500mg tranexamic acid for the reduction of HMB over several cycles.⁶ The active ingredient in Evana is recommended by NICE as a first-line non-hormonal treatment option for HMB.²,⁹ Indeed, it contains the ONLY active ingredient licensed for OTC use in HMB management.⁹ 

How does Evana^® work in HMB?

Women with HMB have been found to have increased fibrinolytic activity in their menstrual blood.¹⁰,¹³ This causes accelerated degradation of the fibrin clot that forms to induce haemostasis¹³– see Figure 1. This increased fibrinolytic activity results in increased blood loss when the endometrium is shed during menstruation.¹³ 

The tranexamic acid in Evana is an anti-fibrinolytic agent, which is a potent competitive inhibitor of the activation of plasminogen to plasmin.⁶ see Figure 2. Tranexamic acid reversibly blocks lysine binding sites on plasminogen, which prevents plasmin interacting with lysine residues on the fibrin polymer.  This blocking results in a deceleration in subsequent fibrin degradation, leading to a slowing in clot dissolution and, therefore, menstrual bleeding.⁸,¹⁰

How effective is Evana^® in managing HMB?

 
Data show that the active ingredient in Evana can reduce menstrual bleeding by up to 60%.⁷ Most women will see a significant reduction in HMB within the first cycle of use¹⁵ but for a small proportion it may take several cycles for Evana to significantly reduce HMB.⁶,¹⁵ For example, in one study, after the first cycle of tranexamic acid use, 87% of women perceived a decreased or strongly decreased volume of menstrual bleeding, rising to 94% of users after the third cycle of use.¹⁵