How the Pill Became a Lifestyle Drug: The Pharmaceutical Industry and Birth Control in the United States Since 1960

Abstract

Marketing decisions, rather than scientific innovations, have guided the development and positioning of contraceptive products in recent years. I review the stalled progress in contraceptive development in the decades following the advent of the Pill in 1960 and then examine the fine-tuning of the market for oral contraceptives in the 1990s and 2000s. Although birth control has been pitched in the United States as an individual solution, rather than a public health strategy, the purpose of oral contraceptives was understood by manufacturers, physicians, and consumers to be the prevention of pregnancy, a basic health care need for women. Since 1990, the content of that message has changed, reflecting a shift in the drug industry's view of the contraception business. Two factors contributed to bring about this change: first, the industry's move away from research and development in birth control and second, the growth of the class of medications known as lifestyle drugs.

A qualitative analysis of women's explanations for changing contraception: the importance of non-contraceptive effects

“…These findings, and our emphasis in defining non-contraceptive effects, is consistent with a recent conceptualisation of contraception as a ‘lifestyle drug’,22 in that contraception is no longer sold or valued solely on the basis of its efficacy for preventing pregnancy, but rather for its secondary benefits. In reflecting on the lack of attention to contraceptive effects in our data, we suggest that this may be because pregnancy prevention is now an assumed benefit of using contraception and so more attention is paid to non-contraceptive effects in their marketing as a ‘lifestyle drug’.…”

The feminisation of contraceptive use: Australian women’s accounts of accessing contraception

“…In particular, the noncontraceptive benefits of contraception are emphasised to market particular brands of contraceptives to women (Watkins, 2012). In a postfeminist society where sexual liberation has been 'achieved', contraception is now designed to free women from menstruation.…”

Hormônios sexuais, moralidades de gênero e contracepção de emergência no Brasil

“…O primeiro diz respeito à crescente prescrição e utilização da pílula anticoncepcional oral, de uso diário, as chamadas pílulas de última geração, que possuem outros fins que não a prevenção da gravidez. Sua consagração como "droga de estilo de vida" 18,19 a torna recomendável para uma série de circunstâncias, com indicações clínicas dermatológicas e estéticas, para melhoria do humor, etc. O segundo alude à crescente recomendação, prescrição e utilização massiva de hormônios sexuais para finalidades de aprimoramento humano, ou seja, melhoria de sua performance vital, seja física ou sexual 16,17 , em atividades de fitness, de potencialização dos corpos em transformação, melhoria do humor, bem-estar, prevenção do envelhecimento, entre outros exemplos.…”