Estrogen (medication)
Estradiol, estrone, and estriol have all been approved as pharmaceutical drugs and are used medically. Estetrol is currently under development for medical indications, but has not yet been approved in any country. A variety of synthetic estrogen esters, such as estradiol valerate, estradiol cypionate, estradiol acetate, estradiol benzoate, estradiol undecylate, and polyestradiol phosphate, are used clinically. The aforementioned compounds behave as prodrugs to estradiol, and are much longer-lasting in comparison when administered by intramuscular or subcutaneous injection. Esters of estrone and estriol also exist and are or have been used in clinical medicine, for example estrone sulfate (e.g., as estropipate), estriol succinate, and estriol glucuronide (as Emmenin and Progynon).
Estradiol acetate
Estradiol acetate, sold under the brand names Femtrace, Femring, and Menoring, is an estrogen medication which is used in hormone therapy for the treatment of menopausal symptoms in women. It is taken by mouth or given as a vaginal ring once every three months.
Side effects of estradiol acetate include breast tenderness, breast enlargement, nausea, headache, and fluid retention. Estradiol acetate is a synthetic estrogen and hence is an agonist of the estrogen receptor (ER), the biological target of estrogens like estradiol. It is an estrogen ester and a prodrug of estradiol in the body. Because of this, it is considered to be a natural and bioidentical form of estrogen.
Estradiol acetate was introduced for medical use in 2001. It is available in the United States and the United Kingdom. The formulation for use by mouth has been discontinued in the United States.