FDA Issues Safety Announcement on Contraceptives Containing Drospirenone

NPR (6/2, Knox) reported that the FDA issued a safety announcement prompted by two recent studies, involving hundreds of thousands of British and American women. The studies cast new doubt on drospirenone-containing pills — sold as Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella and a half-dozen other brand names.” Both “studies, published last month in the British Medical Journal, found a two- to three-fold higher incidence of serious deep-vein blood clots among women taking drospirenone pills compared to those on the older levonorgestrel contraceptives.”   5.31.11 Safety Announcement