"Natural" Birth Control Pill Available in Europe
A new birth control pill, Qlaira, has been developed by the pharmaceutical company Bayer Schering Pharma and is now available in the United Kingdom and in various countries throughout Europe. It is the first “natural” contraceptive pill made from a bioidentical hormone.
Bioidentical hormones are formulated from plants and produce effects identical to the actual hormone. This could mean decreased chances for cancer, blood clots and other negative side effects that are present with typical contraceptive pills.
Like some versions of birth control pills, Qlaira prevents pregnancy by halting ovulation and has proven to be as effective as traditional contraceptive pills. According to rival pharmaceutical company Hays Pharma, Qlaira boasts an extremely high patient satisfaction rate of about 80 percent.
The Bayer Schering Pharma company is also responsible for developing the contraceptive pill YAZ, which is widely distributed in the U.S. Eventually, Qlaira may be approved for use in the U.S., though no known plans are in the works.
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"this could mean..." would be the operative phrase and I would remain safely skeptical until the product has been on the market for a couple of years and prove. Brief and often manipulated clinical trials are simply no sufficient to prove that a product is truly safe for women. The Yasmin/YAZ pill, which is currently subject to investigation and possible recall is supposed to provide reliable birth control and is marketed for such wonderful secondary benefits including reducing PMS and curing acne. Since Yasmin's release on the market there have been numerous cases of young and otherwise health women suffering irreversible and debilitating complications including pulmonary embolisms and stroke. Some died. Many of us take the attitude "it would never happen to me" but it does and has. Trusting profit driven pharmaceutical companies with our reproductive health is foolish when they have time and again demonstrated an inability to develop safe and effective contraceptive options.
It is time to stop taking risks with our precious health, abandon the hopeful thinking around "magic pills" and adopt more natural and safer ways of managing fertility.
I have to agree with the previous comment. I am very skeptical that any hormonal interference would not have any consequences. The dangers of the pill are very well documented and it is no surprise that Bayer would go to great lengths to develop something that appears to be more natural.