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Discovery of Gene May Lead to New Male Contraceptive

Posted 3 days ago by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, May 24 – The discovery of a key gene involved in sperm development could eventually lead to the creation of a new type of non-hormonal birth control for men, a study involving mice suggests. Researchers found that a gene called Katnal1 is critical to enable sperm to mature in the testes. Finding a way to regulate this gene could prevent sperm from maturing, making them incapable of fertilizing eggs. This finding also could lead to new treatments for cases of male infertility in which the Katnal1 gene malfunctions and hampers sperm development, according to the study, from researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The researchers found that male mice modified to lack the Katnal1 gene were infertile. Further investigation revealed that the gene was essential for sperm development and maturation. Successful trials in mice do not necessarily mean the success will ... Read more

Related support groups: Birth Control, Contraception

IUDs, Implants Best for Long-Term Birth Control: Study

Posted 4 days ago by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, May 23 – New research suggests that long-term birth control options, such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) and under-the-skin implants, are 20 times more effective for preventing pregnancy than short-term contraceptives, such as birth control pills, patches and rings. "IUDs and implants are very effective; they rival tubal ligation in terms of preventing pregnancy," said study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Peipert, vice chair of clinical research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "Birth control pills work about 90 percent of the time," Peipert added. "When you think about the millions of women taking them, that's a lot of unintended pregnancies." Results of the study are published in the May 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. In the United States, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned, according to the researchers. That rate is significantly ... Read more

Birth Control Pills, HRT Tied to Digestive Ills

Posted 6 days ago by Drugs.com

MONDAY, May 21 – The use of oral contraceptives by younger women or hormone therapy by older women may be linked with inflammatory bowel disease, new research indicates. Birth control pills are associated with a higher risk for Crohn's disease, said researcher Dr. Hamed Khalili, a clinical and research fellow of gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Crohn's causes inflammation of the lining and wall of the large or small intestine, or both. The lining can become so inflamed it bleeds. Hormone replacement therapy taken by some women after menopause is linked with ulcerative colitis, the study found. It is a disease of the colon (large intestine) or rectum. It causes diarrhea, abdominal cramping and rectal bleeding. Khalili presented the findings Sunday at the Digestive Disease Week meeting, in San Diego. Of the two links they found, Khalili said, the association ... Read more

Blood Clot Risk Linked to Some Non-Pill Contraceptives

Posted 16 days ago by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, May 10 – Some women using hormonal contraceptives other than birth control pills may have an increased risk for serious blood clots, Danish researchers report. These alternate hormone-releasing birth control methods include skin patches, implants and vaginal rings. To reduce the risk, women who use these should consider switching to the pill, the researchers said. Deep vein thrombosis is a kind of clot that typically originates in the legs and can travel to the lungs, where it becomes an often deadly pulmonary embolism. Both types of clots combined are called venous thrombosis, according to the study. Symptoms include leg pain, chest pain or sudden shortness of breath. "The transdermal patch and vaginal ring confer at least a sixfold increased risk of venous thrombosis as combined pills with desogestrel or drospirenone, a risk which is about twice the risk among women using ... Read more

IUD Use Tied to Modest Weight Loss

Posted 19 days ago by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, May 8 – Women who use an intrauterine device (IUD) as birth control may not have to worry about gaining weight after the device is implanted, new research suggests. Researchers compared the medical records of 223 women aged 15 to 44 who were using two different types of IUDs, following them for up to two years later. About half of the women had a non-hormonal IUD containing copper while others used a hormonal IUD that released low levels of a progestin hormone called levonorgestrel (LNG) every day. Women in both groups appeared to lose about 1 percent of their body weight in the first and second years of having an IUD. The study was scheduled to be presented Monday at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists annual meeting in San Diego. "We really expected to see weight gain, and we didn't even expect that there would be weight loss," said study author Dr. Erika ... Read more

Related support groups: Birth Control, Contraception

More Teen Girls Using Contraceptives: CDC

Posted 3 May 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, May 3 – More teenage girls are using contraceptives, which may explain part of the dramatic drop in the U.S. teen pregnancy rate, federal health officials reported Thursday. In fact, the teen birth rate has dropped 44 percent since 1990, to 34 births for every 1,000 females. In 2010, about 368,000 infants were born to teen mothers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We know there have been declines in teen pregnancy, which is wonderful, and increases in abstinence among teens, which is really wonderful also," said report author Crystal Pirtle Tyler, a CDC health scientist. "There has also been increases in contraceptive use." Tyler noted that there has been a 16 percent decline in teens who say they are sexually active. "The majority of teens report never having had sex," she said. To keep teen pregnancy rates declining, teens and their doctors ... Read more

Certain Birth Control Pills May Carry Higher Blood Clot Risk: FDA

Posted 10 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, April 10 – U.S. health officials announced Tuesday that birth controls pills containing drospirenone – a man-made version of the hormone progesterone – may be associated with a higher risk of blood clots and will require new labels. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the updated labels will inform users that the pills – which include products such as Bayer's Yaz or Yasmin – may carry as much as a tripled risk for blood clots compared to birth control pills containing other types of progesterone (also called progestins) such as levonorgestrel. The agency findings came from observational studies, some of which found increased risk for blood clots while others did not, the FDA noted in its medication safety alert. The decision follows recommendations made in December by an FDA-appointed panel that several drospirenone-containing contraceptives carry revised labels ... Read more

FDA Medwatch Alert: Birth Control Pills Containing Drospirenone: Label Change-Products may be associated with a higher risk for blood clots

Posted 10 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

ISSUE: FDA has completed its review of recent observational (epidemiologic) studies regarding the risk of blood clots in women taking drospirenone-containing birth control pills.Based on this review, FDA has concluded that drospirenone-containing birth control pills may be associated with a higher risk for blood clots than other progestin-containing pills. BACKGROUND: Drospirenone is a synthetic version of the female hormone, progesterone, also referred to as a progestin. FDA is adding information about the studies to the labels of drospirenone-containing birth control pills. The revised drug labels will report that some epidemiologic studies reported as high as a three-fold increase in the risk of blood clots for drospirenone-containing products when compared to products containing levonorgestrel or some other progestins, whereas other epidemiological studies found no additional risk ... Read more

Depo-Provera Birth Control Might Raise Breast Cancer Risk

Posted 4 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, April 4 – There appears to be a link between an injectable form of progestin-only birth control, best known as Depo-Provera, and an increased risk of breast cancer in young women, new research suggests. For the study, researchers compared more than 1,000 Seattle-area women, aged 20 to 44, who were diagnosed with breast cancer, and more than 900 women without breast cancer. Recent use of the injectable contraceptive (formally called depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate or DMPA) for a year or longer was associated with a 2.2-fold increased risk of invasive breast cancer, the study found. This increased risk appeared to fade within months after women stopped using the contraceptive, and women who used the contraceptive for less than a year or who had stopped using it more than a year earlier did not have any increased risk of breast cancer, according to the findings published ... Read more

FDA Medwatch Alert: Norgestimate and Ethinyl Estradiol Tablets: Recall - Packaging Error, Potential for Incorrect Dosing Regimen

Posted 27 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

ISSUE: Glenmark Generics Inc. issued a nationwide, consumer-level recall of seven (7) lots of Norgestimate and Ethinyl Estradiol Tablets USP (0.18 mg/0.035 mg, 0.215 mg/0.035 mg, 0.25 mg/0.035 mg), because of a packaging error where select blisters were rotated 180 degrees within the card, reversing the weekly tablet orientation and making the lot number and expiry date visible only on the outer pouch. As a result of this packaging error, the daily regimen for these oral contraceptives may be incorrect and could leave women without adequate contraception, and at risk for unintended pregnancy. BACKGROUND: Norgestimate and Ethinyl Estradiol Tablets are used as an oral contraceptive, indicated for the prevention of pregnancy in women. The product was distributed to wholesalers and retail pharmacies nationwide between September 21, 2011 and December 30, 2011. RECOMMENDATION: Consumers ... Read more

Contraceptives Work Well in Obese Women, But Hormone Levels Lower

Posted 23 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Feb. 23 – Hormonal contraceptives appear to thwart pregnancy just as well in overweight and obese women as those of normal weight despite markedly lower pregnancy-prevention hormone levels among heavier females, a group of reproductive experts said. During a media briefing held Thursday by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Society of Family Planning, researchers said few large studies on contraception have included obese women, creating gaps in knowledge about the safety and effectiveness of various methods among this population. About one-third of all American women between ages 20 and 39 are obese, and most of these women will use contraception, said Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president of external medical affairs for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "Obesity and unintended pregnancy are two of our major health epidemics, and this is at the ... Read more

Pfizer Recalls 1 Million Packets of Birth Control Pills

Posted 1 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 – About one million packets of birth control pills are being recalled in the United States by Pfizer Inc. because of a packaging error that could reduce the effectiveness of the pills and cause unintended pregnancies. The recall of 14 lots of Lo/Ovral-28 tablets and 14 lots of generic Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets was announced late Tuesday after Pfizer discovered that some blister packs may contain either too many or too few active pills and that the pills may be out of sequence. The expiration dates on the recalled packets range between July 31, 2013 and March 31, 2014. The pills are packaged in blister packs containing 21 active tablets and seven inactive tablets. The packaging error means that the daily regimen for the pills may be incorrect and could leave women without adequate contraception and at risk for unintended pregnancy, Pfizer said in a news ... Read more

Ultrasound As a Male Contraceptive?

Posted 30 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Jan. 30 – Ultrasound equipment used for physical therapy may have potential as a male contraceptive, according to a new animal study. Based on their findings with lab rats, the researchers said it's possible that the commercially available equipment could make men infertile by lowering their sperm counts. In conducting the study, researchers from the department of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine rotated high-frequency ultrasound around male rat testes, warming them to 37 degrees centigrade (about 98.6 degrees F). They found two 15-minute ultrasound sessions two days apart were most effective, resulting in a sperm count index of zero. The study is published Jan. 29 in the journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology. "Unlike humans, rats remain fertile even with extremely low sperm counts," said James Tsuruta of the UNC School of Medicine, in ... Read more

Related support groups: Birth Control, Contraception

More Than Half of Teens Who Gave Birth Weren't Using Contraception: CDC

Posted 19 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Jan. 19 – Slightly more than half of U.S. teenaged girls who had a child between 2004 and 2008 did not use birth control, and a third didn't think they could get pregnant at the time, a new government study finds. Although the number of teens who get pregnant in the United States has fallen in recent years, the U.S. teen birth rate is still the highest of any developed country, with more than 400,000 births in 2009, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "These are the girls who had risky sex and ended up getting pregnant and giving birth," said study co-author Lorrie Gavin, a health scientist with the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health. "This is the group that we should pay most attention to, because they're the ones who experienced unintended births." According to the report, 50.1 percent of girls aged 15 to 19 who had an unintended pregnancy ... Read more

'The Pill' Can Help Ease Period Pain, Study Finds

Posted 17 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Jan. 17 – There's more evidence that use of the oral contraceptive pill can help ease the cramps, bloating and other pain some women experience during their period. Some previous research, as well as anecdotal evidence, have suggested that the Pill could help women with painful periods, but a 2009 review of all available research concluded there was limited evidence for such a conclusion. The new findings, from a Swedish study that has been running for 30 years, show that women who used the combined birth control pill (estrogen plus progestin) suffered less severe pain than women who did not use the Pill, the researchers said. Their study findings appear online Jan. 18 in the journal Human Reproduction. Experts estimate that pain associated with menstrual periods accounts for 600 million lost working hours and $2 billion in lost productivity in the United States each year. One ... Read more

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