Femara (letrozole), a drug used for advanced breast cancer, seems to be an effective treatment for endometriosis, according to findings from a small pilot study.


"This study demonstrates the potential of (drugs like Femara) to significantly and rapidly reduce disease severity and pain, offering women a new and more effective way of suppressing endometriosis with fewer side effects," Dr. Serdar Bulun, from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, said in a statement.

The findings of the trial, which are reported in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility, are based on a study of 10 premenopausal women with endometriosis-related pain that was unresponsive to previous treatments.

The women were treated with Femara and norethindrone, a hormonal treatment for endometriosis, for 6 months. A few weeks before and after the treatment period, a small endoscopic viewing device was inserted in the abdomen of each patient to assess the severity of endometriosis.

At follow-up, all of the participants had experienced a dramatic reduction in endometriosis. With the exception of one patient whose pain scores worsened during treatment, all of the patients reported significant pain relief. No significant changes in bone thickness or hormone levels were noted during the study.

"These results appear extremely promising and constitute the rationale for further investigation of this regimen as a first-line treatment for endometriosis," Bulun noted. The study was funded by Novartis, the drug company which produces Femara.

SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility, February 2004.