The first contraceptive patch, which may supplant the pill as the most popular way for women to control their fertility, was launched recently in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Clinical trials have shown that the patch, called Evra, is 99.6 per cent effective, matching the security of the pill. The advantage is that the user does not have to remember to take a tablet at the same time every day - the main reason women on the pill fall pregnant. The patch must be changed once a week.

Evra is used in a similar way to nicotine patches. About two inches square, the flesh-coloured plaster can be stuck on the shoulder, stomach or buttock. It contains the hormones oestrogen and progestogen, absorbed slowly through the skin, which fool the body into thinking it is pregnant and prevent the eggs from being released.

Evra has been developed by Janssen-Cilag, part of the Johnson & Johnson group. It is already available in the United States of America and has become the second most-prescribed hormonal contraceptive in less than 12 months. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that women were better at using patches than taking the pill.

Toni Belfield, information director at the Family Planning Association in the United Kingdom, said: “We very much welcome this development. It offers women more choice, it is effective and it has the advantage that you don’t have to remember to take it every day, meaning it could reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies. I think it will prove to be very popular”.

(Source: The Independent, 17 June 2003 via news@ippf.org)