One-a-Day Plus Contraception

Bristol-Myers will be marketing its chewable contraceptive!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators said on Friday they approved the first chewable oral contraceptive for women, a spearmint-flavored tablet called Ovcon 35.

New York-based Bristol-Myers will manufacture the product, and Warner Chilcott, a division of Northern Irish drug maker Galen Holdings Plc , will market it, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Ovcon 35 contains progestin and estrogen, the hormones used in standard birth control pills to prevent pregnancy, the FDA said.

The new pill may be swallowed whole or chewed and swallowed, the FDA said. Women who decide to chew the tablet should drink an 8-ounce glass of liquid immediately afterward so the full dose reaches the stomach, the FDA said.

Ovcon 35 is available in a 28-day regimen in which women take 21 active tablets followed by seven placebo tablets.

The drug's possible side effects are similar to those of other birth control pills, the FDA said. They include an increased risk of blood clots, heart attacks and strokes, particularly for smokers.

I have to ask...WHY? I mean, it makes for great jokes about little Billy finding your birth control pill stash and later informing you he "ate all the Flintstones," but I just don't get it.

hln

Posted by hln at November 15, 2003 07:32 AM | Health | TrackBack