Endometriosis – one of the most chronic, widespread, and debilitatingly painful conditions unique to women – impacts more than 6.5 million women in America alone and can also interfere with a woman’s ability to become pregnant.
Through an interdisciplinary Pilot Project, Yale power duo biomedical engineer Dr. W. Mark Saltzman and gynecologist Dr. Hugh Taylor are developing and testing a novel drug delivery method for an already FDA-approved medication to treat endometriosis much closer to the source.
The Saltzman-Taylor team is working to determine if a specific estrogen-blocking drug can treat endometriosis with delivery through a manufactured, degradable implantable device. The three phases of this pilot study include determining the proper dose of the estrogen blocker; discovering the optimum placement in the body for a degradable implant; and examining the intervention’s efficacy and safety.