Popular Acne Medication Accutane Continues To Put Babies At Risk, Study Says

BOSTON (CBS) - A new study finds that a popular acne medication continues to put babies at risk.

Isotretinoin, otherwise known as Accutane, is very effective for hard-to-treat acne, but the oral medication has been associated with severe birth defects in babies.

Back in 2006, strict regulations were put in place to prevent women who are pregnant from taking the drug. For example, female patients need to do a pregnancy test every month and use two forms of birth control while taking it.

Despite those and other efforts, researchers at the Brigham and Women's Hospital found that while the number of pregnancies is low, there are still about 200 to 300 a year. They hope more can be done to reduce the number of pregnancies even more to protect newborns while maintaining women's access to the drug.