Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an ordeal for women affected by this endocrine disease, especially since they are faced with a therapeutic void, because no treatment combats the symptoms of this hormonal disorder, the leading cause of infertility. . However, research is progressing and recent work obtained with a common antipuladic drug gives promising results.
Acne, excessive hair growth, infertility… Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) poisons the lives of many women. After years of research, we still do not have a treatment to specifically address it, although a recent study gives some hope of achieving it. “ There are currently only limited options for treating PCOS », underlines this study carried out by a Chinese team and published in mid-June in the prestigious journal Science. This work finally provides a promising avenue in the treatment of this syndrome, which is relatively little publicized even though it affects approximately one in ten women and confronts them with a range of generally painful and distressing symptoms.
PCOS is characterized by excessive production of male hormones and the abnormally high presence of folliclesfollicles — and not cystscysts as its name suggests — on the ovaries. Concretely, for many patients this translates into problems of acne, hair loss, excessive hair growth… The syndrome also increases the risk of infertility — even if it does not condemn them to never having a children — and promotes diabetes.
Patients are often destitute. The treatments currently prescribed only aim to respond to these symptoms in isolation, for example by offsetting the effects physicalphysical by the use of contraceptive pills loaded with female hormones: estrogen and progesteroneprogesterone.
Antimalarial gives hope
The study published by Science opens the possibility of a basic treatment which would directly limit the production of male hormones by the ovaries of patients. To do this, the researchers used a common antimalarial, artemisinin, and noted an overall improvement in the condition of around twenty patients. These results were widely welcomed by the medical community. However, they are only very preliminary: to say if theartemisininartemisinin really works against PCOS, it will be necessary to test it on many other patients and compare the results to a placeboplacebo.
PCOS, a challenge for research
Why such interest at such an early stage? This is because after years of research into polycystic ovarian syndrome, patients have hardly any concrete progress that could benefit them. “ There’s still a lot we don’t know, but progress can’t be said to be non-existent. », nuance to AFP the endocrinologist Elisabet Stener-Victorin, one of the world references on PCOS.
On the one hand, the physiological mechanisms of the syndrome are better known. Her diagnosticdiagnostic has also been refined to become more accurate. Finally, we identify its threats to health more precisely: this is particularly the case for cardiovascular risks and effects on mental health, which were still neglected a few years ago. But many vaguenesses remain. For example, we do not know to what extent the syndrome is rooted in the ovaries themselves, or in a dysfunction of the nervous system.
“For example, we do not know to what extent the syndrome is rooted in the ovaries themselves, or in a dysfunction of the nervous system.”
A comprehensive summary was developed last year by international experts to take stock of knowledge on PCOS and guide doctors on the subject. The fact remains that in several respects, it struggles to provide definitive answers. Thus, there is consensus on the need to adapt the lifestyle of patients, who are often overweight. But this document also admits that there is a lack of data to know precisely what to recommend in mattermatter diet and physical activity.
Research in search of funding
Can the pharmaceutical industry take up the subject and provide it with valuable funding? Small signs indicate the beginnings of interest, such as a recent fundraising by a start-upstart-up which promises to develop a PCOS-specific infertility answer. This group, May Health, has raised around twenty million euros, notably from the French public bank BpiFrance, to develop an “ovarian rebalancing” device whose effectiveness remains to be proven.
Will other groups follow this example? The context is currently favorable for women’s health, notably with the recent strong media coverage of endometriosis. “ PCOS represents a fairly large population, therefore in theory an attractive market, especially since it is a desertdesert therapeutic », admits financial analyst Jamila El Bougrini, specialist in the pharmaceutical sector, to AFP.
“ That being said, it is clear that funding in this area is lower than that allocated to other pathologiespathologies ofincidencesincidences comparable, such as rheumatoid arthritis », she concludes, once again emphasizing how the disorders of metabolismmetabolism such as PCOS represent a research challenge.
