Popular contraceptive pills now carry brain tumour warning

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued new guidance last Friday on the safe use of certain widely used contraceptives, following an assessment of new scientific evidence by its Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC).

The changes concern contraceptives containing the substances desogestrel or etonogestrel. The PRAC concluded that prolonged use, more than one year, of contraceptives containing either substance is associated with a small increase in the risk of meningioma, a...