Ortho-Cept, Similar Birth Control Pills Linked to Intracranial Meningioma Risks, Study Warns

Same researchers previously found similar brain tumor risks from side effects of Depo-Provera birth control shots.

Last year, a landmark study found that side effects of the popular birth control shot Depo-Provera may cause women to face a fivefold increased risk of developing a potentially fatal form of brain tumor, known as intracranial meningioma. Now, the same research team has found that similar risks may be linked to Ortho-Cept and certain other birth control pills.

These new findings were published in the medical journal The BMJ on June 11, indicating that desogestrel-based oral contraceptives, which are sold under the brand names Ortho-Cept, Apri, Cerazette, Zelleta, Desomono and others, pose a greater brain tumor risk than levonorgestrel-based birth control pills.

The BMJ was the same journal in which the initial study was posted in March 2024, which linked side effects of Depo-Provera injections to intracranial meningioma, showing that women who receive Depo-Provera injections for one year or longer face a 5.5 times increased risk of developing the potentially fatal form of brain tumor.

As a result of these findings, nearly 350 Depo-Provera lawsuits have been filed in federal courts nationwide, each raising similar allegations that users and the medical community were not adequately warned about the risks associated with Depo-Provera injections.

In the new study, the same research team from the University of Southern Denmark determined that the intracranial meningioma risk it found in Depo-Provera also exists in oral contraceptives containing desogestrel, which is used in Ortho-Cept, Apri, Cerazette, Zelleta, Desomono and similar birth control pills. The researchers also examined the relationship between brain tumors and levonorgestrel, or levonorgestrel combined with estrogen.

The study, led by researcher Noémie Roland, examined health records from the French national database, focusing on 8,391 women who underwent surgery for intracranial meningioma between 2020 and 2023. To identify patterns, each of these cases was matched with 10 women of similar age and geographic location who did not have brain tumors.

The researchers found a clear link between long-term use of desogestrel-based oral contraceptives and an increased risk of developing intracranial meningioma. While the risk was minimal with short-term use, it became more pronounced the longer the contraceptives were used.

After seven years of continuous use, the risk more than doubled. Women who had used a different type of progestogen before switching to desogestrel faced an even higher risk—more than three times the likelihood of developing the brain tumor.

In contrast, the study found no increased risk associated with levonorgestrel-based birth control pills, suggesting that the elevated risk may be specific to desogestrel and similar compounds.

“In this national case-control study on use of progestogen based oral contraceptives and risk of intracranial meningioma, we found an increased risk associated with use of desogestrel 75 µg for more than five continuous years,” the researchers concluded. “An increased risk was not observed for shorter durations or when desogestrel had been discontinued for more than one year, but it was if other progestogens of known associated increased risk of meningioma had been used in the six years before desogestrel.”

The researchers called for more studies into the potential risk of meningioma linked to progestogens used in combined or progestogen-only oral contraceptives.

Depo-Provera Brain Tumor Lawsuits

As evidence continues to emerge about the long-term risks associated with hormonal contraceptives, hundreds of women who developed brain tumors after prolonged use of Depo-Provera are now pursuing claims in the courts, each claiming the manufacturers failed to warn about meningioma side effects. 

In February, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation established a Depo-Provera meningioma MDL (multidistrict litigation) at the federal level, centralizing claims brought in U.S. District Courts nationwide in the Northern District of Florida, where District Judge M. Casey Rodgers has been appointed to oversee coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

While the number of federal claims continues to grow, Judge Rodgers is already preparing the litigation for early test trials. She has selected a small group of pilot cases to be prepared to go before juries by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

The outcomes of these trials will not be binding on other Depo-Provera lawsuits, however, they will give the parties a chance to see how jurors respond to arguments and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation, which may help the parties reach Depo-Provera settlement agreements.

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