Recalled birth control pills prescribed in Columbia

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — “It’s unfortunate that this happened, hopefully not too many packs were dispersed across the nation before they picked this up,” says Dr. Alexander Smythe of Columbia Women’s Healthcare. Women beware, your birth control could be faulty. “There may be a few unwanted pregnancies and of course that’s a problem,” says Dr. Smythe, whom prescribes the birth control in his practice. This week, giant drug manufacturer Pfizer, pulled twenty-eight lost of Lo/Ovral – 28 from the market, that’s equivalent to one million packets. “How this happened, I really can’t explain it,” says Dr. Smythe. According to Pfizer, an inactive or placebo pill may have been placed out of order in some packs. Dr. Alexander Smythe says he has never seen this in his career. “This is the first time I’ve heard of placebo pills being dispersed in lieu of active pills or vice versa,” says Dr. Smythe. The affected packets have expiration dates ranging between July 31, 2012 and March 31, 2014. Crandall Sims, reporting: “Doctors say if your birth control was recalled you should first visit your doctor’s office to talk about your options, whether that be changing your birth control or staying with your current brand.” Pfizer released the following statement to ABC Columbia News regarding the mishap. “We understand that this news can be very concerning and confusing for any woman who takes birth control to protect against unintended pregnancies. Upon discovery of the issue, we took corrective action and notified the FDA. But for some women, it may be too late. “Like I tell anybody if you missed one pill or let’s say you took a placebo in place of an active pill your body thinks you didn’t get your pill that day,” says Dr. Smythe. Dr. Smythe says because of this you could actually become pregnant. However he also says the chances of fetal malformations because of it, are low. “Generally speaking, we can tell patients that their pregnancies are going to be okay,” says Dr. Smythe. Pfizer also says that if you used Lo-Ovral-28 over the past several months, you should contact your physician and begin using a different form of birth control immediately.