Lybrel, new contraceptive, doesn’t completely eliminate bleeding
Thursday, May 24th, 2007Women considering use of Wyeth Labs’ new birth control pill Lybrel, which is due to hit pharmacy shelves in July, might do well to consider the possible inconvenience of unpredictable (or at least unplanned) light bleeding or spotting.
Press accounts of the new pill, approved by the FDA just this past Tuesday (May 22), have accentuated the primary novelty about its use: the complete elimination of the monthly period. However, in practical use, it is likely that women taking the pill will still experience light bleeding or spotting. The problem is that the occurrence of the bleeding may be unpredictable rather than scheduled, as it is with previously existing birth control pills.
The good news is that the unscheduled bleeding lessens with continuous use of the pill. Studies showed that in women who continued use of Lybrel for a full year, 59 percent had no bleeding or spotting in the final month of the study, according to FDA data.
Another difference women will notice with Lybrel is that since it is designed to be taken continuously (no days off during a monthly cycle) and therefore eliminates the period that is normally “scheduled” for the pill’s downtime, there will be no missed period to warn of possible pregnancy. Users will therefore have to pay attention to the more subtle signs, such as breast tenderness, fatigue, and nausea.
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