Guest blogger, Jennifer Ayres, PhD, is a scientist in FHI 360’s Contraceptive Technology Innovation Department.
In June 1960, the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of Enovid, the first oral contraceptive pill in the U.S. market. It contained two active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) – noretynodrel (a progestin) and mestranol (an estrogen). The hormonal contraceptive marketplace has grown tremendously since then; with new contraceptive pills, injectables, implants, and intrauterine devices came new APIs, like levonorgestrel, etonogestrel and ethinyl estradiol.
Historically, information on these APIs has been scattered, incomplete, or missing from the public domain. That all changes with the introduction of CAPRI, the Contraceptive Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Database. CAPRI is a curated repository of information on 27 APIs (five estrogens, 21 progestins, and one selective progesterone receptor modulator). Drawn from the scientific literature, public databases, and pharmacopoeias, the database summarizes each API’s physical and chemical properties, along with its toxicology, pharmacology, metabolites, impurities, and use in marketed products.
Our aim is to make CAPRI a valuable and useful resource for those who work with hormonal contraceptives, including researchers, product developers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, product quality personnel and procurement agents.
CAPRI will be a living resource, growing and evolving over time to serve the needs of end users. We welcome your feedback; if you have any suggestions for additional features, information or references, please send us a note.
CAPRI was developed by FHI 360 with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.