Leading HRT experts not consulted over NHS menopause guidance

Professors who advised government and led study identifying cancer risks of drugs not invited to give evidence to committee formulating new guidelines

The UK's leading experts on the cancer risks of hormone replacement therapy were not invited to give evidence to the committee preparing guidance for the NHS on treating the menopause, the Guardian has learned.

Prof Klim McPherson from Oxford University, who has written many papers on HRT and sat on the government's committee on the safety of medicines when it warned doctors to prescribe as little HRT for as short a time as possible for women suffering symptoms, was not aware the guidance was being formulated until recently.