A combination therapy using the experimental drug relugolix was effective in treating pain and heavy bleeding from uterine fibroids for a full year, according to findings from a long-term extension study of the phase 3, open-label LIBERTY trials.
Dr Ayman Al-Hendy
The drug was also well tolerated, with retention of bone mineral density and no new adverse events, said Ayman Al-Hendy, MD, PhD, who presented the results October 17 at the virtual American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) 2020 Scientific Congress.
"Relugolix combination therapy represents a potential long-term treatment for women with heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids," said Al-Hendy, a gynecologist and endoscopic surgeon at the University of Chicago, in Illinois.
Al-Hendy, who consults for the company that makes the drug, on October 20 presented results showing improvement in quality of life with relugolix therapy.
"The fact that this longer-term study shows continued, persistent results at a year really gives us confidence that we'll be able to use these drugs as a long-term therapy to treat fibroids," Hugh S. Taylor, MD, president-elect of ASRM, told Medscape Medical NewsTaylor, a professor and chair of ob-gyn and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, was not involved in the study.
