Ortho-Novum 1/80 Oral Contraceptive
date: label: date made
content: 1974
name: label: maker
content: Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation
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: The Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation of Raritan, New Jersey, produced this Ortho-Novum 1/80 brand oral contraceptive in 1974. The 28-pill regimen came in Ortho’s patented DialPak dispenser. The dispenser displays the day of the week, which changes as the patient rotates the rim to dispense the next day’s pill. To maintain the routine of taking a daily pill, many manufacturers began including a fourth week of pills that were inert. This Ortho-Novum regimen contains 28 pills, including 7 tablets that were inert.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey, Raritan
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: 1981.0760.043
label: accession number
content: 1981.0760
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0760.043
objectType: label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, oral
label: Object Name
content: contraceptive
label: Other Terms
content: contraceptive; Contraceptives; Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: norethindrone, 1 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: mestranol, 0.08 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (packaging material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (packaging material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13.4 cm x 9.6 cm x 1 cm; 5 9/32 in x 3 25/32 in x 13/32 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1/2 in x 3 3/4 in x 5 1/4 in; 1.27 cm x 9.525 cm x 13.335 cm