Period Pills for Menstrual Regulation: A New Reproductive Health Option (Period Pills)

June 22, 2026 updated by: Ushma Upadhyay, University of California, San Francisco
The Period Pills Study is a prospective observational study among people who decide to use a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol for menstrual regulation.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Period pills (a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol) for people who suspect, but have not confirmed pregnancy, has the potential to fulfill this growing need. In the United States (U.S.), a handful of providers currently offer period pills alongside other contraceptive and abortion services in their practice (https://www.periodpills.org/providers). This proposed study would aim to assess the acceptability of this growing service as a fertility regulation method to be utilized before a person confirms they are pregnant.

Dr. Ushma Upadhyay (Professor) and Dr. Tania Serna (Associate Clinical Professor) at UCSF's Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science are proposing the Period Pills Study to test a traditional but underutilized framework of menstrual regulation for pregnancy loss, to "bring back" a period when it is late, or missed. This study will aim to recruit 100 participants who have a late period to address research questions that focus on the feasibility and acceptability of using period pills for menstrual regulation.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Oakland, California, United States, 94612
        • Active, not recruiting
        • UCSF Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH)
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke, Virginia, United States, 24017

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Be 18 years old or older
  • Read and speak English
  • Know the date of their last menstrual period within 2 days
  • Have a period that is late by up to 21 days
  • Must have had regular periods in the last 4 months
  • Does not want to be pregnant
  • Does not want to verify pregnancy status
  • Understand that if they are pregnant, the pills will end their pregnancy
  • Does not have contraindications to mifepristone and misoprostol (Risk factors for ectopic pregnancy; history of bleeding disorder or anticoagulant therapy; history of chronic adrenal failure, long-term corticosteroid therapy; allergy to mifepristone/misoprostol/prostaglandins; history of hemorrhagic disorders or anticoagulant therapy; history of inherited porphyrias; has an IUD; currently use a contraceptive implant or injectable)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Under 18 years old
  • Does not read and speak English
  • Does not know the date of their last menstrual period within 2 days
  • Has not had regular periods in the last 4 months
  • Wants to be pregnant
  • Wants to verify pregnancy status
  • Does not display understanding that if they are pregnant, the pills will end their pregnancy
  • Has any contraindications to mifepristone and misoprostol (Risk factors for ectopic pregnancy; history of bleeding disorder or anticoagulant therapy; history of chronic adrenal failure, long-term corticosteroid therapy; allergy to mifepristone/misoprostol/prostaglandins; history of hemorrhagic disorders or anticoagulant therapy; history of inherited porphyrias; has an IUD; currently use a contraceptive implant or injectable)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Study Participants
Study participants will be persons who have late period of up to 21 days
Drug: Mifepristone + Misoprostol
Study participants are given mifepristone and misoprostol for menstrual regulation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Interest in period pills
Time Frame: Documented at Enrollment Survey
The proportion of the clinic-going population that may be interested in a period pill to bring on a late period and accept not having their pregnancy confirmed beforehand, therefore not knowing whether they terminated a pregnancy.
Documented at Enrollment Survey
Satisfaction with period pills
Time Frame: Documented at Follow-up Survey, 4 weeks after drug administration
The proportion of participants reporting being "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the period pills on a five-point Likert scale at follow-up (4 weeks).
Documented at Follow-up Survey, 4 weeks after drug administration

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Efficacy of period pills
Time Frame: Documented at the follow-up visit, through study completion at around 4 weeks after drug administration.
The proportion of participants that successfully brought down their period, resulting in a negative pregnancy test and the return of their period.
Documented at the follow-up visit, through study completion at around 4 weeks after drug administration.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of California, San Francisco

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ushma D Upadhyay, PhD, MPH, University of California, San Francisco

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

June 22, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 22, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 22, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 26, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 26, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 22, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 25-45282

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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