The new drug letrozole is more effective in helping women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) achieve pregnancy than the standard treatment clomiphene, a new study finds.
Researchers enrolled 750 women with PCOS between 18 and 40 years old for the study, assigning them at random to receive either clomiphene or letrozole for five days.
They found the women treated with letrozole were more likely both to ovulate and to give birth than the women on clomiphene.
Of the 374 women who received letrozole, 27.5% eventually had a live birth compared to 19.1% of the women on clomiphene.
The study authors are confident letrozole could provide a new oral therapy for PCOS, which affects an estimated 5-10% of reproductive women.
Read more at National Institutes of Health