Mithra Pharmaceuticals (Liege), a company  focused on women’s health, announces that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Allowance for U.S. Application Serial Number 14/238,310 a patent which covers the use of Estetrol (E4) as an emergency contraceptive.

The patent specifically covers E4, a naturally occurring estrogen, as a potential new emergency contraception option where E4 is used alone .

This new method differs from currently approved emergency contraceptive which includes progestin only pills and combined estrogen progestin pills.

Francois Fornieri, CEO of Mithra Pharmaceuticals , said : " With an improved safety profile compared to the current generation of estrogens, E4 has the potential to revolutionalize the contraceptive market. This patent allowance further strengthen s our US intellectual property position and we look forward to further developing E4 in emergency oral contraceptive applications."