The history and some characteristics of birth control pills are described here. But since the dawn of the era of oral contraceptives, Ortho Pharmaceutical has played a major role in the invention of the modern pill and much else related to contraception and women’s health. Ortho Pharmaceutical has given its best production in every decade from 1960 to date.

The FDA, the US Food and Drug Administration, approved oral contraceptives, also known as “The Pill,” on June 23, 1960. Searle manufactured the first oral contraceptive and it was called Enovid. The pill was very well received and appreciated by women in the 1960s and even today women like the pill and nearly sixteen million women around the world use it as a form of birth control. Even the pill is almost 100% effective if taken correctly.

Oral contraceptives played a key role in the sexual freedom of women that occurred almost in the 1960s. Yes, after the approval of oral contraceptives, women for the first time were able to enjoy sex without panic of pregnancy.

Ortho Pharmaceutical entered the market in 1963 with the introduction of its first birth control pill, and beginning in 1965, the company initiated an annual survey of women’s health and its reviews of birth control pills. Even in 1965, the US Supreme Court declared that laws prohibiting contraception were undemocratic.

In the 1970s, when the pill was widely used and becoming more popular with women, Ortho Pharmaceutical launched low-dose pills. It even introduced the progestin-only contraceptive pill for the first time. Progestin-only pills are the best alternative for nursing mothers.

In the 1980s, Ortho Pharmaceutical scientists first developed multiphasic birth control pills. These pills delivered progestin at varying levels to simulate the normal hormonal rhythm of a woman’s menstrual cycle. These pills quickly became the most recommended birth control pills in the US.

It was in 1988 that the FDA became aware of the potential additional benefits of using the pill. Advantages include a reduced incidence of ovarian cancer, pelvic inflammatory infection, endometrial cancer, benign breast disease, and ovarian cysts. Then, an FDA advisory panel realized that the benefits of the birth control pill may outweigh the likely physical threats of pill use by healthy, nonsmoking women over age 40.

Birth control pills became more popular in the 1990s as Ortho continued its research to improve the pill. The FDA approved Ortho TRI-CYCLEN, a product of Ortho Pharmaceutical, to treat acne in women 15 years of age and as a birth control pill for those 18 years of age and older in 1996.

Ortho Pharmaceutical launched the first contraceptive patch in 2001. Ortho even launched Ortho TRI-CYCLEN LO the following year, that is, in 2002. This low hormone birth control pill was developed to provide extremely effective contraception and expected menstrual periods.

Thus, the history of contraceptive pills also belonged to Ortho Pharmaceuticals and has given the best to the contraceptive era.