The principal manufacturer of contraceptive pills, Bayer HealthCare has now come out with a new-fangled pill – Natazia which it claims has a type of estrogen that for the foremost instant is being employed in an oral birth control method. Natazia users would be taking 4 varied hormone combos and dosages/ sugar pills every month.

The novel unveiling of Natazia overlaps with burgeoning problems faced by the firm due to its earlier new-fangled birth control pill, Yaz.

Beyond Contraception

When Yaz flooded the markets during 2006, it swiftly turned out to be the most preferred contraceptive pill option among the U.S. populace and brought its maker eight hundred million dollars in 2009. However, lately Bayer is being sued by scores of females claiming that it has been causal to grave harm to them resulting in its sales plummeting fifteen percent in 2009.

Now is the best time to scrutinize the Yaz chronicle and observe whether any valuable lessons could be learnt for all while choosing a birth control option.

Yaz was widely endorsed as a ‘going beyond’ contraception and having a chemical constitution that serves myriad purposes. The Yaz ad showcased was replete with multi-hued balloons that floated away, each with a labelling of the varied issues it could tackle like headache, muscle aches, tetchiness, nervousness, bloated feeling, weariness, pimples.

These advertisements influenced many women who then opted for Yaz in the belief that it can cure PMS (premenstrual syndrome) and the added bonus of getting good riddance from moderate or mild-ranging pimples was truly irresistible as a choice although one that many would now be regretting the rest of their lives.

Disingenuous Advertisements

Prof. Ruth Day from Duke Univ. has a word of advice for the FDA about ‘medical cognition’ – individuals understanding and usage of medical info in ads and medicine labelling.

Prof. Day points out that the Yaz advertisements promoted the product as preventing an array of niggling PMS symptoms when in reality it didn’t. Day further points out to the Food and Drug Administration’s consent to Yaz for treatment of far grave and lesser prevalent problem known as pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder or PMDD.

Prof. Day questioned her study entrants whether they believed Yaz cured mild pimples to which 64% of them agreed to, however, the reality was the opposite. Hence, the populaces were getting the wrong notion that Yaz was going beyond contraception.

The FDA then eventually concurred and its spokespersons announced that the advertisements were deceptive and ordered the firm to change their ad. However even the rectified ad failed to totally clarifying fallacies regarding what Yaz could and could not do.

Bayer aggressively promoting Yaz led to its sales catapulting past other contraceptive pill brands and made it the highest selling drug.

Day’s study noted that all the asserted gains tend to obscure individual’s approval of the potential dangers. One needs to be vigilant about a potent tablet which could resolve all issues – when in reality it is untrue.

Considering Risks

The association in-between contraceptive pills and blood clot formation is nothing novel and has been established since long. It is likely that Yasmin, Yaz have a greater than normal risk of blood clot formation.

Scientists from Denmark who were keen on comparing the experiences of scores of Danish contraceptive users helmed by Ojvind Lidegaard noted that Yazmin, Yaz users had a sixty-four percent greater likelihood of developing blood clots as females who used pills that have been in use since many years.

Another research headed by Rosendaal additionally showed that Yaz users had almost a two-fold higher risk as compared to older contraceptive pills.

However Bayer has vehemently disagreed to these outcomes pointing out that the firm backed trials noted that Yaz did not carry any greater risk as compared other birth control pills.

The FDA which scrutinized these researches noted faults in the duo outcomes and has custom-built its own trial that is expected to take place in 2011.

Several Females at Greater Risk

Many females carry a greater risk of developing clots and fatality due to contraceptive pill intake. Some women also carry a super-clotting gene dubbed ‘Factor V Leiden’ that make them thirty-five fold more prone to developing blood clots when they take oral birth control. Around one in five Caucasian people have the gene and it is not regularly screened for.

The brochures within all contraceptive pill packs caution females not to use them in case of any family history of blood clotting disorders. However this is not mostly shown in television advertisements like that of Yaz only cautioning females above thirty-five years of age not to engage in smoking since it raises chances of blood clot formation.

The gist of the story is that one must not opt for the newest and finest medications until they are proven to be better or the existent ones are not ably working. Also all medications have side-effects and in case of the novel ones not yet been employed on populaces, the side-effects are usually not known.

In the interim, Bayer is supervising the effects of its new-fangled pill on seventy thousand females and the outcomes of which would not be obtainable for no less than 5 years.