WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it is conducting a safety review of certain types of birth-control pills to see if they increase the risk of blood clots beyond that of other pills.
The agency said the review is focusing on products that contain drospirenone, which is used in pills including Yaz and Yasmin, which are marketed by Bayer AG . Drospirenone is a type of female sex hormone called a progestin.
Most birth control pills contain two types of hormones, estrogen and progestin. All types of pills increase the risk of blood clots. However, FDA said two recently published studies reported a greater risk of blood clots for women taking birth-control pills containing drospirenone compared to the risk for women taking birth-control pills containing another progestin known as levonorgestrel.
FDA said some previous studies have reported that the risk of blood clots for women who use birth-control pills containing drospirenone is higher than that for women who use birth-control pills containing levonorgestrel while other studies haven’t found such a risk.
FDA said it is “currently evaluating the conflicting results from these studies and will look at all currently available information to fully assess the risks and benefits of drospirenone-containing birth control pills.” An FDA-commissioned study exploring the association of blood clots with hormonal contraception is in the process of being finalized and reviewed.
-Jennifer Corbett Dooren, Dow Jones Newswires; jennifer.corbett@dowjones.com; 202-862-9294
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