Around twenty new healthcare facilities will be able to admit patients to assess the benefits of the saliva test for endometriosis, which promises to diagnose this pathology but has yet to prove its worth, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday.
"The ministers will sign a decree that will be published in early April to add 20 centers," explained the office of Health Minister Catherine Vautrin during a press briefing.
In total, around a hundred sites – hospitals, clinics, etc. – will now be able to carry out these tests as part of a large-scale experiment which already allows them to be reimbursed to the patients concerned.
This "Endotest," developed by the French startup Ziwig, aims to diagnose endometriosis using a simple saliva sample. This condition affects at least one in ten women of childbearing age and can cause significant menstrual pain and a high risk of infertility.
The French National Authority for Health (HAS) considered that the data provided by Ziwig did not, as it stood, allow a definitive conclusion to be drawn on the benefit of this test but that they were promising enough to justify a large-scale trial, reimbursed by health insurance.
Since mid-March, patients have been testing this device in approved centers, initially numbering 80. The initial objective is to create a cohort of 2,500 patients, but the ministry hopes that a total of 25,000 women will be able to benefit from this first stage.
The test, which costs around 800 euros, is not suitable for all patients potentially affected by endometriosis.
The aim is to be able to conclude whether or not surgery by laparoscopy is necessary, an invasive procedure with uncertain results.
Catherine Vautrin, who is visiting the Ziwig industrial site in Landes this Friday, regularly expresses her strong support for the Endotest, which she hopes will become widespread after the final opinion of the HAS.
"We are currently working with a group of 2,500 women who have been tested, which will enable the High Authority for Health to arrange reimbursement through Social Security," she confirmed in an interview with Sud Ouest on Thursday evening.
"We are moving forward as quickly as we can because we see that there is a real response and a real demand," but "we will follow all the timetables and recommendations," Ms. Vautrin's office said.
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