After decades of being woefully under-diagnosed and all but ignored by the biotech and pharma industry, recent advances in understanding its complex etiology could be opening the way to new treatments for endometriosis. Impetus is coming from (modest) increases in funding for basic research, such as the Biden administration’s $200 million for women’s health research and NIH grants under an ‘Advancing cures and therapies and ending endometriosis diagnostic delays’ call announced in March of this year.

Difficulty in obtaining an accurate diagnosis and treatment for endometriosis leaves many women spitting mad, but they may soon find that saliva is the key to escaping the diagnostic maze. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine validated the Endotest developed by Ziwig SAS based on results from a study involving 200 symptomatic patients monitored in five hospital units and specialized centers in France since November 2021. The findings demonstrated a sensitivity and specificity of more than 95%.

PARIS – Ziwig SAS has developed the Endotest saliva test, for quickly detecting endometriosis. François Golfier, head of the gynecology-obstetrics department at Angers University Hospital and chairman of the endometriosis committee for the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians, claims this new generation of in vitro diagnostic medical devices is going to be a game-changer “as it finally allows this chronic debilitating disease to be detected sooner and within the space of just a few days.”