A-Plus for Plan B Sales

Sales of the controversial morning-after pill Plan B have doubled since it became available over-the-counter, the Washington Post reports.

After years of stalling, the FDA final August approved the Barr Pharmaceuticals drug for sale without a prescription to women 18 and older. Barr told the Post that sales of Plan B are rising to what will probably be shut to $80 million that year from approximately $40 million annually.

Plan B functions like a high dose of birth-control pills, says this WSJ article from the date of the FDA’s decision. When taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex, the medicine reduces the risk of pregnancy by as much as 89%. The drug has stirred up controversy amidst anti-abortion and reproductive-rights groups.

Advocates on opposite sides of the issue had different reactions to the surge in

“that is precisely what we hoped would happen,” Susan Wood of the George Washington University School of Public Health, told the Post. “What we’re seeing is women who needed that product now finally having access to it.” She’d pushed for the over-the-counter designation in her role as assistant commissioner for women’s health at the FDA, but resigned from the agency in protest. She complained that the FDA’s handling of the drug hadn’t been based on science.

The Family Research Council is among several groups suing the FDA to reverse the decision. “that is very concerning,” the council’s Charmaine Yoest told the Post. “We think that is putting women’s health at risk.”

Original post by Sarah Rubenstein