Mifepristone effective as ‘morning after’ pill

When taken within five days after unprotected sex, mifepristone works as well for emergency contraception as the approved drug levonorgestrel, UK researchers report.

In a study involving about 2000 women, Dr. Haitham Hamoda of the University of Aberdeen and colleagues compared the efficacy, adverse effects, and acceptability of a single 10-milligram dose of mifepristone with two 750-microgram doses of levonorgestrel 12 hours apart. The agents were taken within 120 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse.

The failure rates were 1.5 percent with mifepristone and 2.3 percent with levonorgestrel—not a statistical difference—the investigators report in the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. However, also statistically, they could not rule out the possibility that levonorgestrel might be less effective than mifepristone.

Acceptability was high. In total, 94 percent of the mifepristone group were satisfied, as were 91 percent of the levonorgestrel group.

However, Hamoda told Reuters Health that since the study was conducted, licensing of levonorgestrel has “changed to a single-dose regimen, and that needs to be taken into consideration when interpreting the acceptability data.”

SOURCE: Obstetrics and Gynecology, December 2004. 

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