Abstract

A few years after coming to the market, the first generation of oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) were linked to signifi-cant risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). This in-creased risk was blamed on the presence of the estrogen-like compounds in these agents. Therefore, the efforts were initiated to decrease the VTE risk of OCPs by lower-ing the delivered estrogen content by adding progestins such as levonorgestrel to these products, which led to production of the second generation of OCPs. Thereafter, the third generation of these agents with lower doses of progesterone-like compounds with contraceptive efficacy was released. They contain the new progestins such as Drospirenone, Norgestimate, Desogestrel and Gestodene (1-3).

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