WASHINGTON--The government is considering setting higher standards for birth control drugs, saying newer pills appear to be less effective at preventing pregnancy than those approved decades ago.
The Food and Drug Administration will ask a panel of experts today and tomorrow whether it should require new contraceptive drugs to meet a standard of effectiveness before they are approved.
More than 60 percent of U.S. women between the ages of 15 and 44 use some sort of contraception, with eleven-point-six million choosing birth control pills. The FDA says newer contraceptives can sometimes have twice the failure rate as previous products, most likely because manufacturers have started using lower doses of hormones that stop ovulation.
The FDA will ask its experts whether the benefit of that improved safety profile outweighs a slightly increased risk of unwanted pregnancies.
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