The drug commonly known as the "birth control patch" now carries yet another warning, Food and Drug Administration officials announced last week.
A new study shows that the patch - known by its brand name Ortho Evra - doubles women's chances of blood clots. The study was commissioned by the company which makes the patch.
As a result, the FDA now requires that the drug display an updated label indicating that risk.
This warning is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding the drug, which is an increasingly unpopular choice among Penn students, according to Student Health officials.
The patch - which releases hormones that prevent pregnancy into the bloodstream - first came under fire last year because it contains 60 percent more estrogen than other hormonal birth control methods, like the birth control pill.
Although the FDA has mandated that the drug carry this updated warning, another study - also commissioned by Johnson & Johnson Inc., which makes Ortho Evra - showed that women on the patch have no increased risk of blood clots.
While the FDA refused to comment, Deborah Mathis, Penn's women's health coordinator, stressed that even a new warning translates to very low risk for most users.
"Though the risk is still there from using the patch, we're talking four to six women in 10,000 who will experience blood clots," she said.
But the side effects from high hormonal levels in the patch - which range from weight gain to headaches - have turned many Penn students away.
"When it first came out [in 1997], a couple hundred people bought the patch," Mathis said.
"Now a lot fewer students are using it," she added.
The pill - which releases hormones - is significantly more in demand.
In May, Penn students bought 2,600 packs of birth control pills from Student Health. In addition, more than 500 NuvaRings - another hormonal birth-control method - have been sold by the University.
"I'm very happy with the pill," College sophomore Tamar Nevo said. "I wouldn't think about changing to the patch, especially now with the new warning label."
Penn students seem to reflect trends in nation-wide birth control use.
Statistics from Planned Parenthood reveal that more than 30 percent of women who use contraception rely on the pill.
The patch, however, has been used by only 3 million women since its debut in 1997. It is now included in a group of contraceptives that 6 percent of women on contraception use, according to Planned Parenthood.
Penn will be discontinuing sales of Ortho Evra due because its price has gone up and plans to stop selling the patch once its current supply runs out.
