Elagolix sodium for the treatment of women with moderate to severe endometriosis-associated pain

First-line medical therapies for treating pain associated with endometriosis mainly consist in combined oral contraceptives and progestins. However, some women, having persistence of symptoms, may require further therapeutic options. Among these, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists (GnRH-as) have been widely employed in the last 30 years, despite being characterized by an unfavorable safety profile. Currently, new alternative investigational options are being investigated to treat this benign chronic disease. GnRH antagonists (GnRH-ants) are innovative hormonal drugs that do not induce flare-up effects and present also a limited onset of hypoestrogenic symptoms; in fact, their pharmacological mechanism of action, which consists in pure antagonistic activity, differs from that of traditional GnRH-as. In July 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved elagolix sodium for the management of moderate to severe pain associated with endometriosis, after the drug showed promising efficacy and safety results in previous phase III trials. This monograph aims to provide a complete overview of the pharmacokinetics, clinical efficacy and safety of this GnRH-ant for treat¬ing patients with endometriosis.