FDA Panel Recommends the First Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill

On May 10, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expert panel voted unanimously to make an oral contraceptive pill available over-the-counter. If the FDA adopts the panel’s recommendation, the birth control pill, which is currently only available by prescription, would become the first oral contraceptive that women can take without medical supervision. “This represents a landmark in the history of women’s health,” said Dr. Margery Gass, emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Cincinnati and FDA panel member in explaining her vote in favor of making the drug, called Opill, available over-the-counter. The recommendation comes at a precarious time for women’s reproductive health in the U.S. After the decades-long federal right to abortion was overturned, states are instituting new abortion bans, and access to the abortion pill mifepristone is in legal limbo. The need for an accessible form of nonprescription contraception that’s more effective than currently available methods—like condoms—factored heavily in the committee’s decision. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Even though the 17 members of the panel, who were independent experts in women’s health and patient behavior, voted unanimously, they had concerns about some of the data that Opill’s maker, HRA Pharma Perrigo, submitted to support its switch to a non-prescription status. FDA scientists raised questions about the...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Public Health Source Type: news