New pill limits periods

By CHARLES ARTHUR of the INDEPENDENT and KATHERINE HOBY

Women, rejoice. Painful periods - in fact monthly periods altogether - could soon be a thing of the past.

A new version of the contraceptive pill having clinical trials in America will let women lengthen their menstrual cycle to three or even four months and will mean they need have only three or four periods a year.

The pill, called Seasonale, is identical to the standard contraceptive pill and contains the same combination of female hormones.

It is likely to go on sale in Britain next year. Barr Laboratories has licensed the technology from Eastern Virginia Medical School, which patented the concept.

Ministry of Health Medsafe senior adviser Dr Stewart Jessamine said NZ women could already avoid having a period every month by continuously taking their contraceptive pill.

There is no particular pill approved specifically for that purpose in New Zealand. Dr Jessamine said "it's a case-by-case thing, at a doctor's discretion".

Whether Seasonale would be available in New Zealand depended on whether the company that owned the rights to it chose to market it here.

Medsafe would evaluate any application and the trial data that supported it, before deciding whether to give approval. That could take up to 12 months.

"Let's just say if it gets a clean bill of health in clinical trials overseas we might end up looking at it," Dr Jessamine said.

"But speaking conservatively, it could be about two years away from being on shelves in this country."

A Dutch study found that 70 per cent of women between 15 and 50 would prefer to have their periods less frequently, suggesting that the new pill will be widely popular.

The technique may even prolong fertility, says Roger Gosden, scientific director of the Jones Institute at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

"It might be that if you retain the eggs, the quality [later on] might be better. The window of fertility could be held back."

Seasonale will not harm the chance of women becoming pregnant if they stop taking it, says Professor John Guillebaud, an independent gynaecologist who is medical director at the Margarete Pyke health centre in London and author of The Pill.

He already prescribes extended courses of the pill for women who suffer badly from period cramps or headaches or who want to delay menstruation for a few days, say over a summer holiday.

"It doesn't seem to have a long-term effect on the ovaries or pituitary gland. Those are effectively put to sleep, the same as when a woman is pregnant. Then they bounce back."

The pill, and Seasonale, work by artificially raising the level of female hormones in the blood. This overrides the normal hormonal signal from the ovaries, and prevents the shedding of the lining of the uterus that is the bleeding seen in menstruation.

Professor Guillebaud says long-term use is very unlikely to have harmful side-effects.

- INDEPENDENT

nzherald.co.nz/health