Centchroman: A safe reversible postcoital contraceptive with curative and prophylactic activity in many disorders.

Centchroman (INN: Ormeloxifene), a reversible post-coital/weekly oral contraceptive (half-life of about 168 hours), designed and developed at CDRI, Lucknow is the only non-steroidal oral contraceptive in clinical use in the world today. Synthesized in 1967 and completing pre-clinical and clinical studies in 1989, this drug was approved for marketing in 1991, social marketing in 1995 and NFPW in April 2016. It acts by preventing implantation of blastocyst in endometrium. It is the only contraceptive which neither suppresses ovulation nor interferes with the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. It has high level of safety and is virtually free from side effects except for a delay in about 8% menstrual cycles which is not confined to any women/cycle. Besides contraception, this SERM is also clinically useful in the management of DUB, mastalgia and fibroadenoma and has promising therapeutic efficacy in a variety of cancers including breast cancer. Due to estrogenic activity, this drug also has anti-osteoporotic and cardioprotective activity. Thus, Centchroman is likely to show other curative and prophylactic activity in a wide range of other disorders.