Third generation oral contraceptives-- the controversy

Britain's latest contraceptive pill scare was two months ago (28 October, p 1117). The UK regulatory body, the Committee on Safety of Medicines, asked for presentations from researchers conducting epidemiological studies designed to monitor the risks and benefits of two of the newer synthetic progestogens, desogestrel and gestodene. The new data, unpublished atthe time, suggested that the risk of venous thromboembolism for women taking brands of the pill containing gestodene and desogestrel was twice that for women using longer established brands. Three million women take the contraceptive pill in Britain, and about half of them use these newer brands. Accordingly, the Committee on Safety of Medicines decided that all women using pills containing these hormones available in Britain should be advised of the risk and offered the opportunityto change brands. Germany also issued strict warnings on the use of these third generation contraceptive pills, and other countries have been re-examining the evidence.