Get rid of having your period with no side effects? Most women will climb aboard this one.
This Sounds Like A Class-Action Suit In The Making
CAPTAIN ED
Scientists have won FDA approval for a birth-control pill that halts the menstrual cycle altogether. The Washington Post reports that Lybrel will halt periods in 60% of women who take it daily, but some women's health advocates warn that the research did not go far enough into the effects that will have:
"The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the first birth control pill that eliminates a woman's monthly period.
Taken daily, the contraceptive, called Lybrel, continuously administers slightly lower doses of the same hormones in many standard birth control pills to suppress menstruation. It is designed for women who find their periods too painful, unpleasant or inconvenient and want to be free of them.
"This will be the first and only oral contraceptive designed to be taken 365 days a year, allowing women to put their periods on hold," said Amy Marren of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which expects Lybrel to be available with a prescription by July. "There are a lot of women who think that's a great option to have." ...
"There may be important health consequences that we don't know about," said Christine L. Hitchcock, an endocrinology researcher at the University of British Columbia. "I don't think we understand everything that the menstrual cycle does well enough to say with confidence that you can abolish it and not have any consequences."
I have nothing against birth control. It should be available as an option for anyone who wants it. If women want to take a pill that will eliminate menstruation as well as ovulation, that's their choice. In some cases, it will allow women who have terrible problems with menstruation to lead normal lives. I see no reason for the FDA to reject it -- but they should take the time to discover what that means for women before approving its use, especially the long-term effect on the ability to conceive. From the description in the Post, it does not appear that depth of research has been performed.
This sounds like a class-action lawsuit just waiting for a few years and a couple of lawyers. Vioxx was supposed to be a wonder drug too, and the First Mate had taken Propulsid for a couple of years before its recall. Neither of those had the profound systemic effect described for Lybrel. If I'm still blogging in ten years, I'm going to bet that we will be discussing a massive settlement with millions of women as plaintiffs.
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