Health Canada approves Seasonale

From the Calgary Herald:
Say goodbye to "that time of the month" and hello to "that time of the season."

An oral contraceptive designed to give you only four menstrual periods a year instead of the usual 13 will be hitting Canadian pharmacy shelves by the end of the year.

On Thursday, Health Canada approved Seasonale, the first extended-cycle birth control to come to Canada. The drug was approved for use in the U.S. in 2003.

Taken as a 91-day regimen -- 84 active tablets with hormones followed by seven inactive tablets, during which time a woman would have her period -- Seasonale will appeal to busy women who don't want to deal with the inconveniences of a monthly period and to women who have severe premenstrual syndrome. ...more