FDA Approves Treatment For Period Pain Faced By 200 Million Women
NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. (CBS Local) - The FDA has just approved a new treatment for a condition that feels like "tiny people skating on razor blades in your stomach," according to millions of women.
Orilissa is an oral medication to help manage the severe menstrual pain caused by endometriosis, a condition where tissue in the lining of the uterus grows into other areas of the body and may require surgery.
"Endometriosis is often characterized by chronic pelvic pain that can impact women's daily activities," Dr. Hugh S. Taylor from the Yale School of Medicine said in a press release. Drugmaker AbbVie added that the debilitating pain caused by this condition affects one in 10 women and can sometimes go undiagnosed for up to a decade.
Michelle Kinney, whose had surgery three times for the severe period pains, told Business Insider that the pain felt "like little people in side her skating around on razor blades and other times like someone's poured gasoline inside."
"There's no getting up," Kinney added.
In March, doctors publicly acknowledged that a woman's cramps can rival the pain caused by a heart attack. "There is a long history of not taking menstrual pain seriously and even writing it off as women's hysteria," Dr. Annalise Weckesser told reporters in 2017.
The Endometriosis Foundation of America estimates that the affects 200 million women globally. Orilissa is expected to be available in U.S. pharmacies starting in August. It will reportedly cost $844.87 a month for a prescription.