Big Pharma looks for Plan C after emergency contraceptive fails
The manufacturer of French morning-after pill NorLevo has announced that the drug is ineffective in women who weigh more than 80 kilograms.
The manufacturer of French morning-after pill NorLevo has announced that the drug is ineffective in women who weigh more than 80 kilograms. The statement was made at a press conference on Tuesday, and comes in the wake of a 2011 study into the one of the drug’s active ingredients, levonorgestrel. The study found that contraceptives with levonorgestrel as an active ingredient failed to contracept in women over 80kgs, and that the effectiveness of the drug decreased dramatically after 75kgs.
Frederique Welgryn of HRA Pharma, the company supplying NorLevo, said that the results of the study conducted by the Edinburgh University in 2011 were “quite surprising”, and the last few years have seen “a lot of discussions” about contraceptives’ efficacy in overweight or obese patients.
The information on drug packaging is being substantially revised. From next year it will feature a new leaflet warning women about the weight limits of the drug.
The results of the 2011 study affect all drugs which have levonorgestrel as an active ingredient. Pressure is mounting on all manufacturers of the morning-after pill to immediately change the accompanying drug information.
Xavier Symons
Creative commons
contraception
morning-after pill
Plan B
More Stories
BioEdge has closed its doors
After 23 years, BioEdge ceased published in May 2024. Not that there isn't lots to report on and talk about,...
How liberal are American bioethicists?
There is growing acknowledgement of the fact that the backgrounds, ideas, and politics of American academics are out of step...
Doctors can be socialized to cooperate in morally despicable evil, says bioethicist
Bioethicist Carl Elliott seems to relish stirring up fellow bioethicists and the medical profession. In his latest book, The Occasional Human...
3 sperm donors from same family in Quebec have sired 600 children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children by offering free sperm on the...
American IVF clinics are happily offering sex selection
The United States is one of the few countries where IVF sex selection is legal – and it is a...
Owner of castration website in UK found guilty of grievous bodily harm
“Enhancement” normally connotes adding powers beyond normal human functioning. However, there are dark kinds of enhancement which remove them. A...