[ noun ] a steroid hormone (trade name Lipo-Lutin) produced in the ovary; prepares and maintains the uterus for pregnancy <noun.substance>
The pill is an anti-hormone that works against the female hormone progesterone, which is vital to a normal pregnancy.
It did say the estrogen and progesterone market is growing rapidly in the U.S., with factory sales expected to reach $750 million within five years.
Osofsky said a 1985 study of 23 women found progesterone administered orally helped alleviate PMS symptoms.
The pill blocks the action of progesterone, a hormone essential in all phases of pregnancy.
Researchers had been searching for such a drug for more than two decades, Spitz said. "This is the first drug to be found that could actually block the action of progesterone," he said.
The study by Dr. Doreen Kimura of the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, shows women perform significantly better in verbal fluency and fine-motor muscular control when their estrogen and progesterone levels are high.
Women in the 1988 study received vaginal suppositories containing progesterone for two months, followed or preceded by two months of treatment with a placebo.
In such cycles, women produce normal amounts of estrogen but less than usual progesterone.