Bayer #DontLiveWithPain Campaign on Endometriosis was tackled in a roundtable discussion with media to raise awareness and call attention.
There is a silent pain that affects many women worldwide, leading many to suffer in silence. Endometriosis affects more Asian women than that of western populations, negatively impacting their health and livelihoods. Last March 21, 2022, Bayer Philippines Inc. alongside healthcare experts and patient advocates in the Philippines held a #DontLiveWithPain campaign roundtable to call attention on endometriosis, to build a community of support for OB-GYNEs and patients; as well as encourage women to seek out more information about this debilitating condition that affects 6-10% of women of reproductive age.
In the roundtable, Ella C. Evangelista- Martelino, a journalist and endometriosis patient care advocate, shared her experience dealing with the condition and her journey towards finding relief from endometriosis. After struggling for years, Ella found the right doctor to help manage her condition – proof that with the right support and knowledge, women with endometriosis do not need to live with pain
Ella Martelino shared, “As someone who has been suffering from endometriosis for years, the Don’t Live With Pain campaign and consensus serves as a sigh of relief that our pain does not go unnoticed and that there is hope for us to live normal lives.”
“Your story is the story of many women who live with the silent pain of endometriosis. At Bayer, our vision is a world where there is Health for all, Hunger for none. That’s why we have a long-standing commitment to continuously innovate and advance solutions for women’s health. We’re supporting Endometriosis Awareness Month to acknowledge and address this condition” says Angel-Michael Evangelista, Managing Director and Country Division Head for Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Philippines Inc.
Besides imposing a negative burden on Asia’s economy due to the high costs of medical and surgical treatment, endometriosis also causes ripple effects on a women’s personal health and overall livelihood as they battle with the condition. This hinders their ability to find normalcy in their social and work life, and it takes a serious toll on their physical and mental health.
Aside from these impacts, the endometriosis burden in Asia is also driven by a delay in women seeking early diagnosis and treatment due to different misconceptions. For instance, women may dismiss pelvic pain as part and parcel of their menstrual cycle, while others believe that endometriosis will cause infertility.[1]
Due to the information gap associated with this condition, Bayer aims to address these concerns and encourage women to seek the treatment they need early. Against this backdrop, Bayer launched the #DontLiveWithPain campaign to encourage women to seek intervention and treatment early, instead of suffering the debilitating pain in silence with the misconception that it is normal.
The #DontLiveWithPain campaign aims to create awareness, educate and help modern day women understand what endometriosis is, and how they can manage the condition. It sheds light on the debilitating impact endometriosis has on women’s social and personal lives, addresses the misconceptions that women may have about the condition, and highlights the common symptoms that women can look out for to assess if they are at risk of endometriosis.
Supporting Endometriosis Awareness Month
In the lead up to Endometriosis Awareness Month, Bayer, together with clinical experts across the region, also unveiled a new consensus guideline, “Clinical Diagnosis and Early Medical Management for Endometriosis: Consensus for Asia”. The first-of-its-kind consensus aims to help healthcare professionals navigate clinical diagnosis and early medical therapy for the treatment of endometriosis to deliver the best patient outcomes.
The consensus aligns with the latest 2022 guidelines published by European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), which details the best practices of caring for women with endometriosis. Both works emphasize the importance of non-invasive procedures in early diagnosis and treatment to allow for patient-centred care. For instance, symptom recognition is recommended before utilising laparoscopy for diagnosis, and medical treatments are recommended for the management of pain post-surgery.[2]
“While the consensus is useful in guiding healthcare providers to recommend patient-centric treatment options, there is also a need for us to leverage the right platforms to educate women on endometriosis, empowering them to voice out their pain and seek treatment early by making informed decisions about their condition. These efforts are testament to our long-standing commitment to support our healthcare providers and patients, and ultimately improve women’s health,” added Catherine Donovan, Vice President Head of Medical Affairs Asia-Pacific, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Asia-Pacific.
Angela Aguilar, Past President of the Philippine Society for Reproductive Medicine and co-author of the “Clinical Diagnosis and Early Medical Management for Endometriosis: Consensus for Asia” said, “This is a huge progress in the management of endometriosis. Through this consensus, early diagnosis and better treatment options will be made available for women to help them achieve an overall improvement in quality of life and on the other hand, healthcare providers will be more equipped to deliver patient-centric care and help alleviate the burden brought about by this condition.”
The consensus serves as a summation of deliberations by clinicians with expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis, where they convened in 2019 to critically evaluate evidence, international guidelines and consensus reports around the clinical diagnosis and early medical management of endometriosis in Asia.
Besides proposing an algorithm that utilizes both clinical diagnosis and early medical therapy which will require further evaluation to assess its effectiveness in diagnosis and patient outcomes, the work also provides guidance on clinical diagnosis and early empiric treatment. Similar to ESHRE’s 2022 guidelines, the consensus suggests that laparoscopy is no longer considered the diagnostic gold standard. Instead, it proposes focusing on patient history and clinical examination to decrease diagnostic delay, especially in low resource settings.[3]
For treatment, the consensus recommends hormonal treatment for patients with no immediate pregnancy desires and emphasizes that these treatments should be individually tailored by considering women’s presentation and therapeutic need. Medical treatment such as the use of GnRHa and progestin are also recommended for early treatment, and management of pain post-surgery.[4]
For more information on endometriosis, please visit https://www.bayer.com/en/pharma/endometriosis
About Women’s Healthcare at Bayer
Bayer is a recognized leader in the area of women’s healthcare, with a long-standing commitment to delivering science for a better life by advancing a portfolio of innovative treatments. Bayer offers a wide range of effective short- and long-acting birth control methods as well as therapies for menopause management and gynecological diseases. Bayer is also focusing on innovative options to address the unmet medical needs of women worldwide. Today, Bayer’s research and development efforts focus on finding new treatment options for menopause as well as gynecological diseases and includes several compounds in various stages of pre-clinical and clinical development. Together, these projects reflect the company’s approach to research, which prioritizes targets and pathways with the potential to alter the way that gynecological diseases are treated. Additionally, Bayer intends to provide 100 million women in low-and-middle income countries by 2030 with access to family planning by funding multi-stakeholder aid programs and by ensuring the supply of affordable modern contraceptives. This is part of the comprehensive sustainability measures and commitments from 2020 onwards and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to drive sustainable development and generate a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2020, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 41.4 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 4.9 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.
[1] Healthway Medical, Questions and Misconceptions about Endometriosis, 2021, https://healthwaymedical.com/questions-and-misconceptions-about-endometriosis/
[2] Kim Mee-Ran et al., International SEUD congress 2021: Poster Presentation Summary Clinical Diagnosis and Early Medical Management for Endometriosis: Consensus for Asia, 2021
[3] Kim Mee-Ran et al., International SEUD congress 2021: Poster Presentation Summary Clinical Diagnosis and Early Medical Management for Endometriosis: Consensus for Asia, 2021
[4] Kim Mee-Ran et al., International SEUD congress 2021: Poster Presentation Summary Clinical Diagnosis and Early Medical Management for Endometriosis: Consensus for Asia, 2021