History
Before the advent of modern contraceptives, reproductive age women spent most of their time either pregnant or nursing. In modern western society women typically have about 450 periods during their lives, as compared to about 160 formerly.
Although it was evident that the pill could be used to suppress menstruation for arbitrary lengths of time, the original regimen was designed to produce withdrawal bleeding every four weeks to mimic the menstrual cycle.
Seasonale was first developed by Barr Pharmaceuticals, in collaboration with Eastern Virginia Medical School, under an agreement. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Seasonale in the United States on September 5, 2003. Barr Pharmaceuticals, its manufacturer, claimed at the time of Seasonale's approval that it would cost one dollar per pill. Seasonale is one of Barr Pharmaceuticals' 22 oral contraceptive products. Health Canada approved Seasonale in July 2007, and Paladin Labs began distributing it in Canada on January 4, 2008.
The FDA approved Lybrel for human consumption on May 22, 2007. Lybrel is currently available at pharmacies by prescription only.
Read more about this topic: Extended Cycle Combined Hormonal Contraceptive
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)