Background: The efficacy and safety of oral ulipristal acetate for the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids before surgery are uncertain. Methods: We randomly assigned women with symptomatic fibroids, excessive uterine bleeding (a score of >100 on the pictorial blood-loss assessment chart [PBAC, an objective assessment of blood loss, in which monthly scores range from 0 to >500, with higher numbers indicating more bleeding]) and anemia (hemoglobin level of ≤10.2 g per deciliter) to receive treatment for up to 13 weeks with oral ulipristal acetate at a dose of 5 mg per day (96 women) or 10 mg per day (98 women) or to receive placebo (48 women). All patients received iron supplementation.

The coprimary efficacy end points were control of uterine bleeding (PBAC score of <75) and reduction of fibroid volume at week 13, after which patients could undergo surgery. Results: At 13 weeks,…