Yasmina Kattou / Photo credits: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
Endometriosis currently affects 10% of French women. This pathology, which causes severe chronic pain, does not yet have a treatment. But the women concerned can have hope: a new molecule will soon be available in France and will effectively reduce chronic pain.
This week begins the European Endometriosis Awareness and Prevention Week. This pathology, for which there is no treatment, affects at least one in 10 women in France (nearly 200 million worldwide) and causes disabling chronic pain, as well as very often infertility.
But affected women can have hope, since a new treatment should soon be available in France. Hope rests on a molecule which will reduce the quantity of estrogen. This female hormone which, when produced in excess, aggravates endometriosis and causes severe pain.
A treatment already marketed in the United States
“There is going to be a new molecule called a GNRH antagonist. It is a medical treatment that will be taken orally. The principle is to eliminate periods, since endometriosis is this uterine mucosa which will pass through the tubes and stick somewhere in the belly. And this molecule, it is very effective”, judges at the microphone of Europe 1, Philippe Descamps, vice-president of the international federation of gynecology and ‘obstetrics.
During a clinical trial, 75% of women saw their menstrual pain decrease. The advantage of this medication is that it could be prescribed for several years, unlike current similar treatments, which are limited to a few months of use due to serious side effects such as a reduction in bone density. The treatment, already marketed in the United States since 2018, should arrive in France this year.