ModiCon Oral Contraceptive

Description (Brief):

The popularity of “the Pill” created a new market for pharmaceutical companies. For the first time, healthy women would be taking medication for an extended period of time. Pill manufacturers developed unique packaging in order to distinguish their product from those of their competitors and build brand loyalty. Packaging design often incorporated a “memory aid” to assist women in tracking their daily pill regimen, as well as styled cases to allow pills to be discreetly carried in bags and purses. The National Museum of American History’s Division of Medicine and Science’s collection of oral contraceptives illustrates some of the changes that the packaging and marketing of the Pill underwent from its inception in 1960 to the present.

Description (Brief)

The Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation of Raritan, New Jersey, produced this ModiCon brand oral contraceptive around 1977. The foil package contains a 21-pill Dialpak dispenser. Ortho trademarked the term DialPak in 1965, and was the first company to release their medication in a memory-aid device, now ubiquitous among makers of oral contraceptives.

Date Made: 1976-1977

Maker: Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: New Jersey, Raritan

Subject: Birth Control/ContraceptionWomen's Health

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Medicine, Health & Medicine, Birth Control

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Gift of Gladys Abell and Lester D. Johnson, Jr., M.D.

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1981.0760.034.BAccession Number: 1981.0760Catalog Number: 1981.0760.034.B

Object Name: contraceptive, oralOther Terms: Contraceptives; Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid

Physical Description: norethindrone, 0.5 mg (drug active ingredients)ethinyl estradiol, 0.035 mg (drug active ingredients)foil (package material)Measurements: overall: 12.5 cm x 8.2 cm x 1 cm; 4 15/16 in x 3 1/4 in x 3/8 inoverall: 1/2 in x 3 1/4 in x 5 in; 1.27 cm x 8.255 cm x 12.7 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-9971-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_730774

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