Barr Laboratories on Thursday announced it has received approval from FDA for its extended-cycle oral contraceptive Seasonique, according to spokesperson Susan Cruzan, the AP/New Bedford Standard Times reports (AP/New Bedford Standard Times, 5/25). Seasonique is similar to Barr's Seasonale, which was approved in September 2003, and allows users to reduce their number of annual menstrual periods from 13 to four. Unlike Seasonale, with which women take 84 active pills consecutively and then take seven placebo pills, Seasonique uses pills containing a 0.01 milligram dose of estrogen in place of the placebo pills (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 4/7). Barr has said that using the low-dose estrogen pills instead of the placebo pills for seven days limits bloating, hormonal fluctuations and breakthrough bleeding, the Standard Times reports. Seasonique is expected to be available for prescription sales in July and is projected to cost about one dollar per pill (AP/New Bedford Standard Times, 5/25).