Bayer introduces cure for chronic pelvic pain, painful sex

MANILA, Philippines – Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals has launched Dienogest as a new treatment for a medical condition in women called endometriosis.

In a normal menstrual cycle, the ovaries produce hormones that stimulate the lining of the uterus, consisting of endometrial cells, to grow and thicken to prepare for pregnancy. If a woman does not get pregnant, the excess tissue is shed off and comes out as the woman’s menstrual period. In endometriosis, there are endometrial tissues found outside the uterus, in locations like the ovary, fallopian tubes, bladder and rectum. These tissues are also stimulated by the ovarian hormones to grow and thicken, causing inflammation and pain.

Among the common symptoms of endometriosis include dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain and painful sex (dyspareunia).

Endometriosis places a heavy burden on women in the prime of their lives, causing considerable pain and impacting on everyday aspects of a woman’s life,” said Dr. Maria Jesusa Banal-Silao, president of the Philippine Society of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

Endometriosis affects 10% of reproductive-aged women. The World Bank estimates that in 2010 there are 1,761,687,000 women in the world aged between 15 and 49 years.  If 10% of these women have endometriosis, it equates to 176 million women with endometriosis during the prime years of their lives. Yet, only a fraction of these cases will ever be diagnosed and treated.

The pain symptoms of endometriosis have a huge impact on the women's quality of life and productivity. "This is debilitating for women because of the pain they have to go through while carrying on with their daily activities," said Dr. Banal-Silao.

Prof. Thomas Römer, Founding member of European League of Endometriosis,  Professor at the University Cologne, Germany, and Head of OB/GYN, Academic Hospital Weyertal, University Cologne, Germany said there is a new way out of the pain for patients with endometriosis.

“A new well-tolerated treatment option with the potential to offer women significant and lasting pain relief is good news for the women living with endometriosis in the Philippines,” said Prof. Römer.

Dienogest provides a new treatment option for the estimated one in 10 women affected by endometriosis, a chronic and painful disease.

Dienogest has been proven in clinical trials to significantly reduce the pain associated with endometriosis and to significantly reduce endometriotic implants (the endometrium-like tissue found ‘implanted’ outside the womb).

Prof. Romer added that surgery alone is not the answer for endometriosis. "There is a definite need for adjuvant therapy – there is currently no cure for endometriosis and surgery alone is not an adequate solution. Many women (20% to 40%) do not show improvement following conservative surgery.

Dienogest (2mg taken once-daily) is proven to be highly effective at relieving the pain caused by endometriosis.2,3,4 Clinical studies have shown that it is as effective at relieving the pain of endometriosis as gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues (GnRH-analogues) and is superior to placebo.3,4  In clinical studies Dienogest has shown continuous pain relief over 15 months of treatment.

Dienogest effectively relieves the most common painful symptoms caused by endometriosis, including period pain (dysmenorrhea), pre-menstrual pain, pelvic pain and pain during sexual intercourse (dyspareunia).

“We are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of women and their families everywhere through research and development of new treatment options for diseases primarily afflicting this population,” said Jennifer Yong, Country Division Head of Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals in the Philippines. “We feel that the introduction of Dienogest marks a considerable step forward in managing this chronic, debilitating disease.”