New oral drug to cure ghostly menstrual pain

Oral drug Elagolix has been approved by US FDA for treatment of endometriosis, a painful medical predicament suffered by an estimated 1 in 10 women in their reproductive age group. In India, there are around 25 million women who suffer from it and the numbers are going to increase.

Endometriosis is a medical condition when there is pain in the lower abdomen region as it is found that the tissue which appears on the womb is also found to grow abnormally in other locations like the ovaries or around the uterus. When the menstrual cycle starts there is bleeding inside the tissue and due to this, wherever the tissue is located it is found to bleed leading to painful periods.

The approval of the drug makes way for oral treatment for the problem, where earlier surgery was the only option. The drug approval is based on the results of two studies where 1,700 women who suffered from moderate to severe endometriosis pain were given the new drug.

The FDA approved the following recommended dosage and duration of use wherein the drug can be taken up to 24 months in a dosage of 150 mg per day, or up to 6 months if the dose is 200 mg twice per day.

However, the clinical trials also revealed a range of side effects. The most common ones were hot flashes, night sweats, headache, nausea, trouble sleeping, anxiety, joint pain, depression, and mood swings.

Senior gynaecologist Dr Ruma Sinha explained, “We are presently using GnRH injections and these are found to be effective. But due to the injections there are rashes and also bone loss. The cycle of injections has to be completed to ensure effective results. The new oral drug comes as another advanced treatment and we have to see how it works on our patients.”