A forgotten founding father of the Pill: Ferdinand Peeters, MD

ABSTRACT

Ferdinand Peeters, a practising gynaecologist from Turnhout, near Antwerp (Belgium), had a pivotal role in the development of a practical and viable modality of oral contraception, striking the balance between efficacy and an acceptably low incidence and severity of side effects. While, with regard to the origin of oral contraception, names like those of Pincus, Rock, and Djerassi come immediately to the fore, the work of Peeters has to a large extent faded from public memory. Still, it was Peeters who proposed to Schering AG in Berlin that a combination of 4 mg norethisterone acetate and 0.05 mg ethinylestradiol be used for ovulation suppression. He convinced the scientific staff of Schering of the potential benefits of what, after clinical trials, would finally emerge as Anovlar^®.

KEYWORDS:

• Oral contraception (History of -)
• Norethisterone acetate
• Ethinylestradiol
• Ferdinand Peeters

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The preliminary account of the research, authored by Karl van den Broeck, was published in March 2010 in a special issue of Knack Extra, the supplement of a weekly magazine, devoted to the ‘50th anniversary of the Pill’. The initial idea for the research came from Jacques Wittebolle, to whom the authors are indebted. They are also grateful to Luc Debroe, MSc, and to Professor André Van Assche for their critical reading of the manuscript before submission.

Declaration of interest: Dr Dirk Janssens was Dr Ferdinand Peeters’ associate from 1973 onward. The authors report no other conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.