title: An overview of early drug development for endometriosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent chronic disease of women of fertile age requiring chronic therapy. Although available drugs have good efficacy and safety profiles, some patients experience partial or no improvement of pain with conventional treatment and recurrence of symptoms after discontinuation of the therapies. For these reasons, many new compounds are currently under investigation for the treatment of endometriosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review offers the reader a complete and updated overview on emerging therapies for the treatment of endometriosis. The authors describe, in detail, the laboratory and clinical studies on these therapies and highlight the potential advantages and limitations associated with the administration of these new agents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonists are the most intriguing emerging agents for the treatment of patients with endometriosis. It should be noted that while there are a number of drugs under investigation, a large majority of these new compounds have only been investigated in laboratory studies with more extensive research required to better elucidate their efficacy and safety profiles.
authors.affiliation: a Academic Unit of Obstetrics and Gynaecology , IRCCS AOU San Martino - IST , Genoa , Italy.|b Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health (DiNOGMI) , University of Genoa , Genoa , Italy.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Leone Roberti Maggiore
authors.affiliation: a Academic Unit of Obstetrics and Gynaecology , IRCCS AOU San Martino - IST , Genoa , Italy.|b Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health (DiNOGMI) , University of Genoa , Genoa , Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferrero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015195:Drug Design; D015507:Drugs, Investigational / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D015507:Drugs, Investigational; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone
keywords: Elagolix; endometriosis; gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist; hormonal treatment; medical treatment