Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-08-04
Blood CIots
Found in
Some Users
BY WILLIAM GRIGG
Star Staff Writer

A birth control pill Is being
studied to determine the rela-
ionship. if any. between the
drug and the deaths of six
women who used it,
the Food and Drug Admins
tration says.
A British medical journal re-
ported the death Of one British
woman known to have taken
the oral contraceptive pill.
after the British Jour-
nal report was made public, the
FDA said that six women who
lied here had used the con-
sraceptive pill.
Officials of both countries
reported the coincidence of the
drug usage and the deaths.
They emphasized that no def
mite connection between the
two had been established.
The FDA said there is no
evidence that the pill, known
in America as Enovid, caused
the deaths here. Both the FDA
and the manufacturer, G. D.
Searle & Co. Of Chicago, have
the drug under intensive in
vestigation." the agency said.
Blood ClOts Noted
The immediate cause of all
the deaths apparently was
thrombophlebitis. blood clots
accompanied by irritation of
the veins. In addition to the
six deaths there have been 20
non-fatal cases Of thrombo-
phlebitis among women who
have taken Enovid, the FDA
reported.
The new development came
in the wake of growing appre-
hension over the use Of a tran
quilizer, thalidomide. blamed
for malformation in infants
whose mothers took the drug
during pregnancy in the United
States and Europe.
Americas physicians already
had been warned on July IA
hat several women among the
thousands taking the con-
,raceptives had died from
blood clots that formed and
were swept to a tiny vein and
blocked it. The condition is
called emboliSm.
The July warning came from
DR.. Edwin j. DeCosta of Chi
cago. He said the condition may
occur in women not taking
the drug and thus it may Just
be coincidence that several
deaths have occurred in women
the new pills. He added,
perhaps prophetically:
But should the blood CO.
agulation mechanism be proved
to be disturbed, the oral con-
,raceptives, as we know them
Today, would soon be only an
other memory in mans vain
attempt to control his destiny"
In ANA Journal
The statement by DR.. De
Costa, an associate professor
At Northwestern University
Medical School, was printed in
he Journal Of the American
Medical Association. It thus
cached nearly every physician
n the United States.
Yesterday a similar warning
vas printed in the British
Medical Journal.
Riding a wave Of favorable
for keeping thalido-
mide off the general drug mar
ket, the Food and Drug Admin
Istration suddenly had less
pleasant questions to answer.
Had not FDA approved Emo
1id. the major oral contracep-
tive. in May of 1862? Yes.
FDA officials had not only
the Enovid data pro-
Vided by the Searle Co.. but
80 had a panel of experts NOM
mated by the National Re-
search Council. Both found it
safe.
Then in December of last
year, the Searle Co. informed
FDA that two deaths had been
reported in Los Angeles among
users of the drug. FDA, how
ever. could not establish that
these deaths were not coinci-
dence.
Since then, FDA has received
reports of 26 other cases of
,oagulstion problems. including
four deaths, in women taking
Enovid. According to a brief
account being issued by FDA
to inquiring newsmen. "FDA
the manufacturer on
May 81 to supply full infor-
nation to the medical profess
See PILLS, Page A-3