BUSINESS MEMO: BIRTH CONTROL PATCH

The biggest maker of the pill is developing the world's first birth control patch for women, a device that will deliver contraceptives through the skin for a week.

Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday the patches include the same ingredients as the pill and work just as well. J&J plans to seek government approval early next year. A review by the Food and Drug Administration could take a year or more.

The patch would be the newest type of birth control to hit the U.S. market since the injectable drug Depo-Provera in 1993. J&J, which controls 39 percent of the U.S. oral contraceptives market, is in the final stages of testing the patch on several hundred women.