The new pill

From the Vancouver Sun:
As the birth control pill approaches its 50th birthday, the now ubiquitous medication is getting a facelift -- a brand new image with provocative implications.

Once marketed for severe menstrual disorders but quietly sold as a contraceptive, the birth control pill is now being pitched as a means of reducing or eliminating menstrual periods.

It is the stuff of huge controversy and massive marketing budgets, and pits gynecologists against some of the continent's top hormone researchers and sexual health educators. ...more

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