Brevicon 21-Day Oral Contraceptive
date: label: date made
content: ca 1974
name: label: maker
content: Syntex F.P. Inc.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: The popularity of “the Pill” created a new market for pharmaceutical companies. For the first time, healthy women would be taking medication for an extended period of time. Pill manufacturers developed unique packaging in order to distinguish their product from those of their competitors and build brand loyalty. Packaging design often incorporated a “memory aid” to assist women in tracking their daily pill regimen, as well as styled cases to allow pills to be discreetly carried in bags and purses. The National Museum of American History’s Division of Medicine and Science’s collection of oral contraceptives illustrates some of the changes that the packaging and marketing of the Pill underwent from its inception in 1960 to the present.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Syntex Incorporated produced this Brevicon brand oral contraceptive in Humacao, Puerto Rico, around 1972. The Brevicon 21-Day tablet is in a trademarked Memorette tablet dispenser. The dispenser is in a blue plastic compact case embossed with a profile bust of a woman. This pill pack was distributed by the manufacturer as a “Professional Sample” and includes an informational booklet for the first-time user.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Puerto Rico: Humacao, Humacao
topic: label: Subject
content: Birth Control/Contraception
label: Subject
content: Women's Health
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Birth Control
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Gladys Abell and Lester D. Johnson, Jr., M.D.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0760.009.B
label: accession number
content: 1981.0760
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0760.009.B
objectType: label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, oral
label: Other Terms
content: Contraceptives; Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: norethindrone, 0.5 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: ethinyl estradiol, 0.035 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (package material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (booklet material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (tablet dispenser material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12.2 cm x 9.4 cm x 1.7 cm; 4 13/16 in x 3 11/16 in x 11/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/4 in x 3 3/4 in x 4 7/8 in; 1.905 cm x 9.525 cm x 12.3825 cm