There are two conditions that will identify if there is any need of using infertility drugs. One, if the woman is unable to ovulate therefore there is a need for assisted development of the egg cells. And second if there is a need to increase the chances of pregnancy when a patient already has the capability to ovulate. These are termed as ovulation and superovulation respectively.

Letrozole or femara is the most recent addition in the long list of infertility medications found in the market today along with already-established medications that come in names like Clomid or Serophene and Gonadotropins.

Letrozole, (the brand name of which is Femara) is primarily a drug used by breast cancer patients. But recently, it came into use in the infertility industry.

In the recent years, Femara has been one of the most efficient infertility drugs. However, recent studies suggest that it is somehow associated with low number of birth defects. Birth defects arise when Femara is used during the period of pregnancy. Yet when administered before the establishment of pregnancy, no adverse consequences are found. Nonetheless, the manufacturer of Femara accepted absolute responsibility over those cases that ended up with birth defects.

Femara works by suppressing the production of estrogen. Thus, creating the effect of producing more hormones that work solely for ovarian stimulation. These hormones namely LH and FSH help in both the processes of ovulation induction and superovulation. As a result, Femara has become widely accepted as an infertility drug.

Treatment using Femara have shown substantially higher rates of success as compared with those produced by other drugs like Clomid. In fact, it is known that while patients have failed to ovulate using other medications, there are still possibilities that they will do when Femara is administered in their case.

Common Side Effects of Femara
- Breast tenderness
- Headaches
- Hot flashes

Advantages over other major infertility drugs

So far, researches show no cases of miscarriage in women employing Femara in their infertility treatment. Only, the manufacturer advises that once pregnancy commences, the use of the medication must be automatically stopped.

Unlike with Clomid, Femara is readily released from the body. Thus producing no other effects that might affect the tissues and other organs in adverse manner.

When administering Femara, there is usually 60 to 80% increase in ovulation possibility. Nonetheless, assurance of pregnancy is decreased by half.

Women who are able to ovulate normally take 1 tablet of Femara a day. But this dosage may increase depending on the capability of the body to react to the medication.

Clomid as an infertility drug is considered to be the cornerstone of all other medications that have followed the trend. While many years have passed since Clomid was first introduced into the market, it is still the same drug as it was before that most infertile couples come in contact with initially before everything assumed their places in the industry.

Clomid, an infertility drug that appears in other names like CC, Clomiphene citrate, Serophene or simply Clomid is considerably inexpensive as compared with the brands that have invaded the market recently. Its main uses are focused on ovulation problems by means of oral consumption rather than via injection.

While it was produced several years earlier than its predecessor, the workings of the drug still facilitate in a very complicated fashion but with desirable potency. It does not have effects on women whose ovaries have already reached the termination of their use. Nonetheless, Clomid is still a very potent drug when it comes to inducing satisfactory effects on all estrogen receptors. Thus, it has the capacity of creating reactions on all body tissues, which contain estrogen receptors.

Tissues lying in organs like cervix, endometrium, pituitary, vagina and hypothalamus are some for which its known effects are working. Clomid is also useful in assessing the possibility of using the potential ovary reserve in a female. And it is also utilized for patients with defects on their luteal phase.

Clomid, aside from its efficiency in working with estrogen, also has the property of influencing the functions of other four major and vital hormones in infertility namely GnRH, LH, FSH and estradiol.

Although we still have no complete understanding of the exact manners by which Clomid conducts its processes, it still seem pretty obvious that its major effects in the brain is to fool it into believing that the estrogen level of the system is low. Thus bringing a domino effect of releasing more hormones to compensate for the lack of hormones for which infertility is said to have rooted. The effect of this normal reaction is to make the system a feasible environment for ovulation.

The known side effects though of using Clomid in aid of fertility are the following:

- Multiple pregnancy
- Ovarian enlargement
- Pelvic and abdominal discomfort
- Bloating or distention
- Breast discomfort
- Nausea and vomiting
- Abnormal uterine bleeding
- Visual symptoms like appearances of waves, floaters, lights and etc.

While there may be side effects like these, Clomid is still clear of having any association with increase of congenital abnormalities, complications in pregnancy, birth defects appearing in children and premature labor.