Antifertility Drugs

Antifertility Drugs: Hormone-Based Birth Control Chemistry

The dramatic gains in life expectancy brought about by the antibiotic revolution led to accelerated population growth, which in turn placed added pressure on food supply, environmental resources and employment - motivating family-planning programmes that include chemical antifertility (birth-control) drugs.

Chemical basis. Birth-control pills are typically formulated as a combination of a synthetic estrogen derivative together with a synthetic progesterone derivative. The natural hormone progesterone is known to suppress ovulation, and the synthetic progesterone derivatives used in these formulations are, chemically, considerably more potent than the natural hormone itself. …