Inclusion Criteria:

• postmenopausal women, defined as:
• 12 months of spontaneous amenorrhea;
• OR 6 months of spontaneous amenorrhea with serum Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) levels>40 mIU/mL;
• OR 6 weeks post surgical bilateral oophorectomy with or without hysterectomy.
• In case the menopausal status of a subject was unclear because of a hysterectomy, the serum FSH level had to be >40 mIU/mL. If the date of the last menstruation was not clear because of perimenopausal hormone use, then the subject had to have a serum FSH level >40 mIU/mL after completion of a washout period (see exclusion criteria below); be = 40 and = 65 years of age;
• have a body mass index (BMI) = 18 and = 32 kg/m2;
• minimum of 7 moderate to severe hot flushes per day or 50 per week, as quantified from daily diary recordings during at least 7 days preceding randomization to trial medication;
• able to handle the electronic diary device after training and having at least 80% compliance on complete daily diary entries during the period prior to randomization;
• give voluntary written Informed Consent (IC) after the scope and nature of the investigation had been explained, before screening evaluations.

Exclusion Criteria:

• history or presence of any malignancy, except non-melanoma skin cancers
• any clinically unstable or uncontrolled renal, hepatic, endocrine, respiratory,hematological, neurological, cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease that would put the subject at safety risk or mask measure of efficacy
• history of seizures or epilepsy; history or presence of clinically significant depression or other psychiatric disorder which, in the opinion of the investigator, might compromise or confound the subject's participation in the trial; abnormal clinically relevant vaginal bleeding
• any clinically relevant (opinion of investigator) abnormal finding during physical, gynecological and breast examination at screening; abnormal, clinically significant results of mammography. Mammography had to have been performed within the last 9 months prior to screening, otherwise it had to be done before inclusion into the trial. For non-US sites, if local laws or guidelines did not allow or advise such frequent mammograms, the documented local laws or guidelines were to be followed; abnormal cervical smear test results (corresponding to Pap III and higher, including Low-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (LSIL), High-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL), Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN) 1and higher). A cervical smear had to have been performed within the last 9 months prior to screening, otherwise it had to be done before inclusion into the trial; hematological or biochemical values at screening outside the reference ranges considered clinically relevant in the opinion of the investigator
• high Blood Pressure (BP) (sitting systolic BP > 170 mmHg and/or diastolic BP >100 mmHg)
• use of any drug product containing estrogens, progestins, androgens or tibolone prior to screening (and up to and including randomization) within: Document