Birth control pills recalled

Updated We have an important recall to tell you about, and it could make a lot of women panic.

Birth control pills called Alysena 28 are being recalled from December until this weekend. Some batches of the pill were accidentally made with ineffective pills. What’s even more alarming is the drug maker, Apotex, noticed the problem nearly a week ago, and didn’t notify the public about the recall until yesterday.

Health Canada is warning women who are taking the pill – manufactured by Apotex – to check the serial and drug identification numbers on the package. This is after the company posted a recall saying that one lot of the contraceptive may have been incorrectly packaged with only two weeks of drug-containing tablets instead of three.

The DIN number on the affected packages is 02387883, and the serial number is lf-01899-a. Apotex says packages of the contraceptive should include 21 active birth-control pills plus seven placebo or inactive pills, that contain no drug. The affected lot may instead contain 14 active contraceptive tablets and 14 placebo pills.

Health Canada warns that women taking the incorrectly packaged pill would not receive the proper amount of contraceptive, and have an increased chance of an unplanned pregnancy. Alysena 28 is sold in Ontario, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, PEI and Quebec.

Some pharmacists are now contacting women directly to tell them they need to use other forms of birth control or test for pregnancy, because the pills they were taking might be ineffective. Cindy Csordas explains.