Estetrol presentation at the 10th Congress of the European Society of Contraception, Prague
(May 2, 2008)

During the Late Breaking News session at the 10th Congress of the European Society of Contraception in Prague, Czech Republic the fetal SERM estetrol was presented by Monique Visser, Director Clinical Development, as possible new estrogenic compound in the contraceptive pill as alternative for ethinylestradiol (EE). During this session, entitled “Estetrol; a new estrogen in the pill?”, new data was shown of an ongoing clinical study on the contraceptive effects of estetrol (E4), either alone or combined with a progestogen (P). The preliminary results of the E4/P arms of the study suggest that E4 is as effective as EE for inhibition of ovulation, regulation of vaginal bleeding and estrogen substitution. However E4 may be safer and have less side effects. Contrary to EE, estetrol hardly increases Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG) when combined with the progestogen desogestrel (270% versus 25%). This confirms the “liverfriendlyness” of E4. Clinically this may result in a lower risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), since the increase of SHBG is the most important single biomarker to predict VTE.  

 

Back to news index

top