ORTHOEVRA BIRTH CONTROL BLOG

Brazil to subsidize discounted birth control pill program

May 31, 2007

For years, Brazil’s government has gotten into the Carnival spirit by handing out tens of millions of free condoms on the streets.

Now the world’s largest Roman Catholic country is helping to make birth control pills more affordable, subsidizing a program that will allow people to buy a year’s supply for about US$2.40.

Weeks after Pope Benedict XVI used a five-day visit to the nation to denounce government-backed contraception efforts, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced the new program to give masses of poor Brazilians access to birth control pills that better-off citizens take for granted.

“It gives them the same right that the wealthy have to plan the number of children they want,” Silva told about 150 doctors and women’s rights advocates on Monday.

Brazil already hands out free birth control pills at government-run pharmacies. But many poor people don’t go to those pharmacies, so Silva’s administration decided to offer the pills at drastically reduced prices at private drug stores, Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said.

Under the new program, anyone can buy the pills by simply showing a government-issued identification card that almost all Brazilians carry. The number of outlets selling the pills will start at 3,500 and is expected to rise to 10,000 by the end of this year.

When the US$51 million program is fully under way, the government expects to be handing out 50 million packages of birth control pills each year.

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Each government-subsidized package — with enough pills to last a month — will cost 0.40 Brazilian reals (US$0.20). They now retail for 5 reals to 50 reals.

The Health Ministry said it does not plan to subsidize condoms at private drug stores, but Brazil already distributes 254 million free condoms a year, many as part of an anti-AIDS program, with a special push just before Carnival celebrations.

Temporao also said the government plans to increase the number of free vasectomies performed at state hospitals.

During his visit to Brazil earlier this month, Benedict repeatedly railed against legalized contraception as a threat to “the future of the peoples” of Latin America.

But advocates for women’s rights applauded Silva’s decision, saying it was long overdue, although some worried whether Brasilia would follow through.

“Too often, Brazil makes really wonderful laws that remain on paper because there is no political will,” said Mary Luci Faria, who coordinates women’s programs in Sao Paulo.
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Women in their 20s trust luck, not birth control

May 29, 2007

There is a big problem with unwanted pregnancies in this country and, surprise, it is not your teen-age daughter. It is your twentysomething daughter.

That’s the conclusion of new research from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, a non-profit organization that may have to alter its name and its mission.

While the number of teen pregnancies has dropped by more than a third since 1990 and abortions among this age group have dropped by half, the rate of unwanted pregnancies among 20- to 24-year-olds has actually increased, and over half of all unwanted pregnancies occur to women in their 20s.

“Only the teens are making progress,” said Isabel Sawhill, president of the National Campaign’s board and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “And that is something I find stunning.”

By “unwanted” the researchers do not mean “mistimed” or “inconvenient.” It means not wanted - ever. And these unwanted pregnancies have far-reaching consequences.

The women experiencing them are less likely to receive pre-pregnancy and prenatal health care and this puts the health and development of the children at risk.

Most of the children are born to unmarried women, and children born outside of two-parent married families, are more likely to be poor, drop out of high school and have lower grades and lower aspirations.

And nearly two-thirds of those unwanted pregnancies end in abortion.

We know these things. What we don’t know is what is going on in the heads of these twentysomethings.

They are in what Sarah Brown, executive director of the National Campaign, calls a “fog zone.”

“These young people tell us, ‘I don’t want to get pregnant, but I’m not on any birth control.’ Their behavior doesn’t match up.”

Brown sees this problem as far more complex than anything a public health campaign about safe sex can address. “What we are seeing is an inability to have enough self-esteem to control one’s life.”

“It is clear these kids have a bunch of myths and misinformation about sex in their heads,” said Bill Albert, deputy director of the National Campaign, pointing to the comments from twentysomething focus groups.

They talk of depending on luck and hope to keep from getting pregnant. They don’t know when ovulation occurs or its connection to pregnancy. They think birth control makes your hair fall out.

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“But we don’t understand the sex lives of those in their 20s and 30s,” said Albert, although 97 percent of women have had sex at least once by the age of 29. “We have to do a lot more talking to them before we know what is going on in their heads.”

No less an authority than the Centers for Disease Control now defines adolescence as lasting until 25.

Our twentysomethings may be out of the house but they still haven’t figured things out, and the forces that guided them - Mom and Dad, teachers, coaches, parents of friends - may no longer be around.

For more than a decade, the National Campaign has focused on teens, telling them to postpone sex and to protect themselves if they do not. But that message is one that the twentysomethings have to hear, too, perhaps with a little editing: Saying “yes” to sex once, doesn’t mean you have to say “yes” every time.

“We know that twentysomethings are less likely to say ‘no,’” said Albert. “Part of this challenge is getting across to them when it is OK to say ‘no.’

“The rest of the message is the same: ‘You either don’t have sex or you use protection. Simple as that.’”

Brown says our twentysomethings “are big, but not grown up.”

They are supposed to be adults, but their lives remain very unsettled - including jobs, schooling, apartments, friendships and lovers.

As parents, we may have thought that our job was done when they left for college or moved into their first apartment. What we are seeing with the chaos of unwanted pregnancies among those who should know better is that we were wrong.

It is possible that our twentysomething children need our firm guidance, love and support as much as they did when they were 14.

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A birth-control pill that can eliminate periods

May 24, 2007

Los Angeles, May 23: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday approved the first birth-control pill designed to eliminate women’s monthly period.

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The new pill, called Lybrel, uses a combination of low-dose synthetic hormones that are used in other oral contraceptives already on the market. But all of the 28 pills that come in a monthly pack will contain the active ingredients, forgoing the placebo tablets that normally cause menstruation to begin.

Contraceptive makers have been introducing a variety of products designed to minimise the frequency and duration of periods.

Yaz, made by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, and Loestrin 24 Fe, from Warner Chilcott Inc, came on the market last year with the promise of shortening periods to four days or less. Seasonale and Seasonique, sister products from Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc, limit periods to four times a year.

Lybrel, from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, takes the trend to its logical conclusion by attempting to suppress periods altogether.

“Why have a period at all?” said Gerardo Bustillo, assistant chief of obstetrics and gynaecology at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California.

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But Lybrel doesn’t quite reach that goal, based on the results of two clinical trials involving 2,400 women between the ages of 18 and 49.

According to the FDA, the women experienced unscheduled bleeding or spotting, though the incidence of such events decreased over time. In one study, only 59 per cent of women who took Lybrel for one year reported no bleeding during the last month. Many women stopped taking the pill after problems with unscheduled bleeding.

In a European clinical trial, Lybrel prevented pregnancies in all 323 women who took it, said Wyeth.

Birth-control pills contain synthetic versions of estrogen and progestin that prevent ovulation. Without an egg in the uterus, a pregnancy cannot occur.

Lybrel could be an appealing option for women who take the pill to prevent menstrual cramps and migraine headaches or to control endometriosis, Bustillo said.

“It’s not for everybody,” said Ricardo Azziz, chair of obstetrics and gynaecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “Some women like to have a period every month to reassure them they are not pregnant. Some feel more ‘natural’ by having that period.

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New Lybrel Birth Control Pill Promises No Menstrual Bleeding

May 21, 2007

Lybrel, a new birth control pill scheduled to go on the market this summer, has promised that users will never experience menstrual bleeding or any of the other bad effects of the menstrual cycle. The pill will be available from doctors by prescription only.

Advocates of the drug company producing the new pill say that other products on the market reduce the cycle from the normal 5 to 7 days to only three days or from 13 times a year to only 3. Their product promises zero days, zero times a year.

The pill freezes the woman’s body in the time frame after ovulation and right before mensturation. In other words, the woman will always be PMSing.

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While male doctors who heard this felt that they could give it to some of their patients, they refused to provide it to their wives, daughters, or anyone else in the service industry. Said Doctor Joe Brown of the Mayo Clinic, “My wife is bitchy enough as it is when she is PMSing for a few days. Do I really need to put up with that year round?”

Men’s organizations from the Promise Keepers to the Klan have all jointly agreed to picket the drug company responsible if the medicine is ever released.

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Health Highlights: May 19, 2007

May 21, 2007

Where Do People Live the Longest Lives?

If you want your son to have a long life — in fact, statistically the longest life expectancy on earth — move to San Marino, a small republic on a hill near the Adriatic sea, surrounded by Italy.

And if you have a daughter and want her lifespan to be the longest, you can move across to the Mediterranean to Monaco, or across the sea to Japan.

According to the Associated Press, these countries rank among the best for a person’s longevity. The annual list was issued Friday by the World Health Organization (WHO). San Marino’s male life expectancy is 80, and Japan and Monaco’s (among others) female life expectancy is 86, the wire service reports.

The lowest life expectancy for both males and females is in Africa, the A.P. reports. Males in Sierra Leone, on the continent’s west coast, have an average lifespan of only 37, which is the same for females in Swaziland, in the southern part of Africa.

The United States is on the high side in average lifespan, the A.P. reports, although not a leader in either category. U.S. males reach an average age of 75 and women can be expected to live to be 80.

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Pill That Would End Periods to Get FDA Blessing

A birth control pill that would eliminate periods completely for women is expected to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Lybrel, which is made by Wyeth, would be the fourth oral contraceptive that doesn’t mirror a woman’s monthly menstrual cycle. Seasonique, an updated version of Seasonale, limits menstrual periods to four a year, the AP reported.

Almost 50 percent of women surveyed have indicated a desire to eliminate monthly periods, and most would rather have periods less often, the wire service said.

I think it’s the beginning of it being very common,” Dr. Leslie Miller, a University of Washington-Seattle obstetrician/gynecologist told the AP. “Lybrel says, ‘You don’t need a period.’”

Lybrel should hit the U.S. market in July, and analysts have predicted that sales could reach $40 million this year and $235 million by 2010, the AP reported.

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Boiling ‘Cabbage Family’ Veggies Cuts Anti-Cancer Properties

Boiling broccoli and related kinds of vegetables — including cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts — reduces their anti-cancer properties, according to a U.K. study in the journal Food Chemistry and Toxicology.

Researchers at the University of Warwick Medical School found that boiling these vegetables causes the loss of a substance called glucosinolate. When consumed, glucosinolate changes into another compound called isothiocyanate, which fights the effects of carcinogens and hastens their removal from the body, Agence France-Presse reported.

The study found that boiling reduced glucosinolate content by 77 percent in broccoli, 58 percent in Brussels sprouts, 75 percent in cauliflower, and 65 percent in green cabbage.

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Steaming, stir-frying or microwaving had little effect on these vegetables, however, AFP reported.

There are a number of other related vegetables with anti-cancer properties, including collards, kale, horseradish, radish, watercress, boy choy, rutabaga, kohlrabi, turnips, and Chinese cabbage.

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5% Reduction in Smoking Could Save 100 Million Lives

A 5 percent worldwide reduction in the number of smokers by 2020 would save at least 100 million lives, according to a study by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden.

Currently, about 25 percent of adults (one billion people) in the world are smokers. Reducing that to 20 percent can be achieved by increasing tobacco taxes, expanding smoke-free zones, banning tobacco advertising, and helping people kick the habit, said the study. It noted that a number of countries have already cut adult smoking levels to less than 20 percent, Agence France-Presse reported.

Special focus must be made on educating smokers and would-be smokers in developing nations about the dangers of tobacco, Bloomberg and Frieden said. They pointed out that two-thirds of smokers live in 15 low- or middle-income nations and that 50 percent live in just five countries — China, India, Russia, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

“Keeping rates low is especially important for the large population of young women in Asia and elsewhere who do not currently smoke but are targeted by the tobacco industry,” according to the study, which was published Friday in The Lancet medical journal.

Bloomberg is an ex-smoker who spent $125 million of his own money to start a Worldwide Stop Smoking Initiative last year, AFP reported.

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Acquisition costs, competition bring down Barr’s 1Q earnings

May 16, 2007

The company, parent of Cincinnati-based Duramed Pharmaceuticals, posted net income of $11.6 million, or 11 cents per share, versus $76.1 million, or 70 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues rose to $599.4 million from $326.8 million year over year.

Barr said in a news release that the quarterly results include Pliva d.d., the Croatian subsidiary acquired by Barr in October 2006. Adjusted earnings per share, minus costs associated with the Pliva acquisition, were 78 cents for the first quarter, compared to 84 cents in first-quarter 2006. Analysts had expected 61 cents per share.

The company’s generic drug sales were $475 million during the quarter, compared to $200 million a year ago. But sales of its proprietary products fell to $89 million from $93 million, mainly due to generic competition for the Seasonale extended-cycle oral contraceptive manufactured by Duramed. That was partially offset by growing sales for the Plan B contraceptive product, also manufactured by Duramed, and Adderol IR.

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Barr and Duramed received FDA approval for a second-generation extended-cycle oral contraceptive, call Seasonique, which is now being marketed.

The company expects adjusted full-year earnings per share in the $3 to $3.30 range, and revenues of $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion.

Shares of Barr (NYSE: BRL) closed at $52.25, up $2.36, Wednesday afternoon.

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Elk cull possible

May 15, 2007

Despite efforts to curb the number of elk around Banff, Alta., the animal’s presence is on the rise again, prompting Parks Canada officials to consider killing some elk and testing birth control drugs.

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Parks Canada is worried the rising population will lead to a return to the late 1990s, when the animals became a fixture in town, charging people, damaging shrubs and trees, and making some people too scared to leave their homes.

By the end of spring, Parks Canada plans to have an advisory group in place to review its elk management strategy.

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May 9, 1960: Easy Birth Control Arrives, but There’s a Catch

May 10, 2007

The birth control pill wins the approval of the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA gives its blessing to the 10-milligram dose of Enovid, which by then had been in clinical trials for four years, and the Searle drug company starts selling the pill a month later.

The pill, which was nearly 100 percent effective, nevertheless came with some severe side effects, including life-threatening blood clots. Further research found that the approved dose was 10 times too high.

The first pill was developed from synthetic progesterone, which itself derived from the steroid that occurs naturally in the human fertility cycle.

Science continued refining the pill until, by the 1980s, safer and effective lower-dose variants were available. Other birth-control methods evolved as well, including the T-shaped intrauterine device, although they fell out of favor after one of them -– the Dalkon Shield –- was found to cause pelvic inflammatory disease.

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Today’s woman can still opt for the pill in various forms, although the birth-control patch -– which slowly releases hormones through the skin –- is proving equally effective.

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Birth Control Pills’ Diabetes Risk, Safety For Sickle Cell Patients Unclear

May 8, 2007

Hormonal contraceptives are unlikely to predispose women to type 2 diabetes and appear to be safe for those with sickle cell anemia. However, the evidence in both cases is incomplete, according to two new research reviews.

The effect of contraceptives on blood glucose and insulin levels among women without diabetes appears limited in the 24 studies analyzed by Laureen Lopez, Ph.D., of Family Health International and colleagues.

Their review appears in The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

Most of the studies included in the Cochrane review were small and prone to patients dropping out, and half of the studies had weight restrictions for the women who participated. “Therefore, we still know very little about women at risk for metabolic problems due to being overweight,” Lopez said.

The majority of the research compared different kinds of birth control pills consisting of a mix of the hormones progestin and estrogen used for three months to two years. Women who took a pill with desogestrel as the progestin had better blood glucose levels than those who took other kinds of pills, but the effect was inconsistent when it came to insulin levels, the authors found.

Hormonal contraceptives with desogestrel, often called “third-generation” birth control pills, include the brands Ortho-Cept, Cyclessa and Mircette.

The jury is still out on whether women with sickle cell disease, a hereditary condition that affects red blood cells, should use hormonal contraceptives, according to a second review by Anu Manchikanti and colleagues at Family Health International.

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The authors were only able to find one controlled safety study among women with sickle cell disease, a trial with 25 women who had three monthly injections of a progestin-only contraceptive commonly called Depo.

Women who received the injections were less likely to have episodes of severe pain called sickling crises than those who got saline injections, the study concluded. “Depo appears to be a safe birth control option and may reduce the frequency of bone pain,” Manchikanti said.

Elyse Mandell, A.P.R.N., a nurse practitioner in the hematology division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said there is nothing particular about sickle cell disease that would preclude using hormonal birth control.

“I don’t think any of the methods of birth control confer any increased risk to women with sickle cell disease. So whatever will be used, faithfully and correctly, is OK with us,” she said of the hematology groups’ recommendations.

Both manuscripts disclose that David Grimes, M.D., who participated in both the Lopez and Manchikanti reviews, has served on a speakers’ bureau for several pharmaceutical companies that make hormonal contraceptives.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the United States Agency for International Development supported the reviews.

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