Third generation contraceptive pill claims rejected

Encouraged by a warning issued to doctors by the Committee on the Safety of Medicine and supported by legal aid, a group of around 100 women brought action against Schering Health Care Ltd, John Wyeth & Brother Ltd and Organon Laboratories Ltd (the pharmaceutical arm of Akzo Nobel). They claimed that the third generation oral contraceptive pills, prescribed between 1990 and 1995, were more likely than others to cause venous thrombo-embolism (blood clots in the veins) and related ills from which they had suffered. The products concerned were Minulet and Tri-Minulet, Femodene, Mercilon and Marvelon which contain oestrogen and a synthetic progestagen (desogestrel or gestodene). The claimants argued that the pills were defective under the terms of the Consumer Protection Act.