A NEW contraceptive pill that lets women go four months without a period will go on sale this week.

Yaz Flex comes in packs of 120 pills and women who use it continuously will have three periods a year.

The pill comes with a palm-sized dispenser that records usage, notices when a tablet has been missed and provides an alert that alternative contraception must be used.

The Clyk digital tablet dispenser can be programmed to sound a daily alarm to remind women to take the pill.

More than 80 per cent of women admit to forgetting to take their contraceptive pill at some stage and 31 per cent forget it once a month, according to a survey funded by Bayer, the drug company that makes Yaz.

Alex Trevor, who has used the new pill for a week, loves the new digital dispenser which "keeps me on track". "There have been times when I've forgotten to take the pill in the past," she said.

Yaz Flex is a new version of the existing monthly contraceptive pill Yaz and both contain a combination of hormones that over time help reduce acne. Australia is the launch market for the pill, which is made in Germany.

Associate professor and gynaecologist Dr Rod Baber said many medical studies had found skipping periods was safe and it could be useful for women who have heavy periods, their periods are painful or they get migraine associated with menstruation.

Ms Trevor, whose mother Dr Christine Read works for Bayer, said she had skipped periods on her old pill but Yaz Flex with its digital dispenser made it easier to keep track of where she was in her cycle.

Common side effects of Yaz Flex include nausea, depression, headache, breast pain and unscheduled bleeding.

Women using it also face twice the risk of a blood clot as women using older versions of oral contraceptives, but Dr Baber said the risk was still low - 2.7 in 100,000 women. In pregnancy the risk of a blood clot is six in 100,000.

(Read by Brian Salter. Brian Salter is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)