Gestoden, an innovative progestogen.

The estrogen component used in virtually all oral contraceptive pills today was synthesized in the laboratories of Schering AG in 1938. The progestogen component varies, but levonorgestrel has become the standard among the lowest-dose pills available. Various attempts to modify the levonorgestrel molecule have resulted in new progestogens like norgestimate and desogestrel without much greater biological activity; therefore, further reduction in dose is unlikely. Gestoden, the newest progestogen from the levonorgestrel class, synthesized in Schering AG's laboratories, is different. Its enhanced biological activity allows for a progestogen content in a fixed combination pill half that in other low-dose pills available today. Furthermore, it has an improved pharmacologic profile with favorable dissociation of the androgenic and progestogenic activities. A unique anti-mineralocorticoid action is seen resembling natural progesterone, a property not presently shared with other synthetic progestogens. Results will be presented from clinical trials with a new monophasic gestoden preparation.