Progestin: Synthetic Progesterone

Progestin is a synthetic form of progesterone [4], a naturally occurring hormone [5], which plays an important role in the female reproductive cycle. During the 1950s two types of progestin [6] that were later used in birth control [7] pills were created, norethindrone [8] and norethynodrel [9]. In 1951 Carl Djerassi [10] developed norethindrone [8] at Syntex [11], SA Laboratories located in Mexico City, receiving a patent on 1 May 1956. In 1953 Frank Colton [12] developed norethynodrel [9] at G.D. Searle and Company Laboratories located in Chicago, receiving a patent on 29 November 1955. These two types of synthetic progesterone [4] are important to the history of embryology [13] as part of the birth control movement [14], because they facilitated the development and creation of the birth control [7] pill, which changed the way people viewed birth control [7] and revolutionized women?s birth control [7] methods.