In the News: St. John’s Wort Diminishes the Effect of Oral Contraceptives
April 1, 2002
In the News: St. John’s Wort Diminishes the Effect of Oral Contraceptives
Two unintended pregnancies associated with concurrent use of St. John’s Wort and oral contraceptives have been reported to the Swedish Medical Products Agency (equivalent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration).
The first case is of a 31-year-old woman who had previously used Trinovum (ethinylestradiol 35 mcg, norethisterone 500 mcg) successfully for 10 years. After an interval of several years she resumed taking Trinovum in April 2000, and began taking Esbericum, a St. John’s Wort product, at the end of July 2000. Her pregnancy was confirmed in mid-November 2000.
In the second case, a 28-year-old woman who had taken Trinordiol 21 (an ethinylestradiol/levonorgestrel combination) regularly since 1991 began to use Kira (each tablet contains 300 mg of an extract standardized to 0.3% hypericin) three times daily in October 1999. Her pregnancy was confirmed in March 2000. Both St. John’s Wort and oral contraception were discontinued; a healthy child was later born. (Editor’s note: Thanks to Pati Hays for translation services.)
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