Birth control in a patch

A CONTRACEPTIVE patch made by Johnson & Johnson's Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc. is proving to be just as safe and effective as the contraceptive pill in preventing pregnancies.

The patch - the Ortho Evra - is awaiting approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and by the European health officials. A study on the patch, paid for by the manufacturer, can be found in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). This will be the first contraceptive patch.

The technology appears simple enough. The small adhesive patch can be worn on the woman's abdomen or buttocks and will continuously provide the woman with low levels of oestrogen and progestin. Like the birth control pill, this combination of hormones will prevent ovulation. The makers of the patch indicate that the woman would wear a patch each week - a total of three patches for each menstrual cycle. During the fourth week, the woman will have her period.

The study published in JAMA compared results from 812 women wearing the patch against 605 on Wyeth-Ayerst's Triphasil birth control pills for at least six cycles. Five women on patch got pregnant compared with seven on the pill. The researchers consider the difference statistically insignificant.

The researchers wrote in their analysis that "the numerically lower overall failure rate for the contraceptive patch may be due to better compliance shown with this once-weekly dosing regimen." Compliance in patch wearers were about 90 per cent compared with 80 per cent in pill users.

Some of the side effects include skin irritation (in 20 per cent of patch users). Other side effects were headaches, nausea and breast discomfort.

Back to Profiles in Medicine