Newly approved birth control pill claims fewer side-effects

A new form of contraceptive pill, called Yasmin, has been approved in Canada and its maker claims it has fewer side-effects.

Like other pills already on the market, Yasmin contains a low dose of estrogen, but its progestin is a synthetic form, called drospirenone.

The synthetic hormone could reduce unwanted side-effects, such as weight gain.

Yasmin has been on the market in the U.S. and Europe for five years.

• FROM APRIL 16, 2004: New pill has almost no side effects: study

"There is much less tendency to fluid and salt retention with Yasmin," said Dr. Albert Yuzpe of the Genesis Fertility Centre in Vancouver. Yuzpe developed the morning-after pill in the 1970s.

"Compared to those other birth control pills, I had no weight gain," said Isabelle Corbett, who took part in clinical trials for Yasmin.

"It does matter. When you don't fit in your jeans, you're not happy," said Corbett.

But doctors are not advising women who are satisfied with their birth control pill to switch to Yasmin.

"All birth control pills are very good, so it's really hard to say this one is so much better than all the other ones," said Dr. Diane Francoeur of the Canadian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

"I'm very happy that we have it, because this way we're going to reach as many women as need to be reached," said Francoeur.

Yasmin may be especially attractive to teens and young women, who may go off the pill because of weight gain and risk getting pregnant.

A recent study showed that 46 per cent of women who stop taking birth control pills do so because of the side-effects.