(July 15, 2009) Can birth control pills solve your every problem, including headaches? You might think so, judging from some TV commercials.

Bayer is running ads correcting its claims about its Yaz birth control pill.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now says that a drug company has gone too far in its ads, and the agency has ordered Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals to run a $20 million ad campaign correcting claims that their popular birth control pill Yaz can clear up acne, general mood problems, irritability, anxiety, and premenstrual symptoms.

In a Feb. 10 article titled, “A Birth Control Pill that Promised Too Much,” the New York Times said that the FDA’s action was “an unusual crackdown on deceptive consumer drug advertising.” The FDA action was joined by attorneys general in 27 states.

But the $20 million ad campaign that Bayer must run is only “chump change” for the pharmaceutical giant, according to Bruce L. Lambert, a professor of pharmacy administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago, as quoted in the Pharma Marketing Network Forums. For them, he said it was “just the cost of doing business.”

Indeed, drug companies spent $5 billion in direct-to-consumer advertising in 2007, which is more than twice the total FDA budget, according to the popular blog Cab Drollery. Since some of its more popular products are nearing their patent expirations and opening manufacturing to generic competitors, Bayer has piled on the advertising to increase its market share, the blog notes.

Advertising for oral contraceptives includes little about various possible side effects such as breast cancer, bloodclot formation, and cardiovascular disease.

The ruling is the latest confirmation for many couples in the Chicago area of the wisdom of Catholic teaching on birth control. Couples are invited to try Natural Family Planning, which has no chemical side-effects and has proved by studies to be as effective as artificial means in avoiding pregnancy.

Classes in the Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning can be taken at 15 locations in the Chicago, IL Archdiocese, as well as in southeast Milwaukee and northwest Indiana. The next class will begin Sun., Aug. 9 at Holy Trinity Church in Westmont. Email Chris & Debbie Lillig, or call them at 630-428-3046.