• 01
  • February
    2012

Around one million packets of birth-control medication manufactured by drug maker Pfizer Inc. are being recalled after a packaging error was discovered that could put users at risk of getting off their dosage cycle and becoming pregnant accidently. The affected birth-control products are called Lo/Ovral-28 and a generic medication called Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol.

Pfizer said it discovered that some packages of the drugs had the wrong number of pills with the active drugs. Oral birth control packages typically come with 21 hormone pills and seven sugar tablets to properly regulate the user's hormone levels during her menstruation cycle. The packets had either too many sugar tablets or too few. A spokeswoman said that Pfizer believes the packaging defect was due to employee and mechanical errors. The problem has been corrected, the spokeswoman said.

Women can usually miss one dose of birth control and catch up the next day without putting themselves at risk of pregnancy, but the risk quickly goes up when they miss a couple of days, a pharmacist interviewed about the recall said.

The company is recalling 14 lots of each medication. The affected packages, which have already been shipped to warehouses, pharmacies and medical clinics across the U.S., are stamped with expiration dates ranging from July 31, 2013 to March 31, 2014.

Birth control is big business to pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, although neither Lo/Ovral-28 nor Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol is among the most popular drug in that field. Around 78.6 million prescriptions of birth-control medicine were filed in 2010.

Source: The Associated Press, "Pfizer recalls 1M birth control packs after mixup," Tom Murphy, Feb. 1, 2012