Content about Emergency contraception

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department late Wednesday reported it will appeal a recent judicial decision that would require removing any age restriction from the purchase of the Plan B emergency contraceptive, according to a report published in USA Today.

NEW YORK — The Food and Drug Administration has 30 days to approve over-the-counter availability of the emergency contraceptive Plan B One-Step to women of all ages, according to a decision issued Friday by Judge Edward Korman of the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York. In a second decision, Korman declined to intervene on Teva Pharma's behalf in extending patent exclusivity for Plan B One-Step. 

ATLANTA — Between 2006 and 2010, 1-in-9 sexually experienced women between the ages of 15 and 44 years had used emergency contraception at least once, the National Center for Health Statistics noted in a report released Wednesday. Use of emergency contraception, such as Plan B One-Step, was the most common among women between the ages of 20 and 24 years, those who never married, Hispanic or non-Hispanic white women, and those who attended college. 

That compares with 2-in-5 women who used emergency contraception in 2002 and fewer than 1-in-10 women in 1995. 

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic contraceptive made by Watson Pharmaceuticals, the drug maker said Friday.

Watson announced the approval of Next Choice One Dose (levonorgestrel) tablets in the 1.5-mg strength. The drug is an emergency contraceptive used to prevent pregnancy following unprotected sex or contraceptive failure.

The drug is a generic version of Teva Women's Health's Plan B One-Step, which had sales of about $88 million during the 12-month period ended in March, according to IMS Health.

NEW YORK — Pharmacies may be misinforming teenagers about where they can locate emergency contraceptives without a prescription, according to a new study published in Pediatrics.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — "I am appalled that politics has once again trumped science," wrote Brooklyn College Health Clinic director and nurse practitioner Ilene Tannenbaum in a letter to the New York Times. That reaction summed up much of the medical community's response to the Department of Health and Human Services' overruling of the Food and Drug Administration's decision to make the Plan B contraceptive pill a full nonprescription product.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Food and Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg on Wednesday issued a public statement that the agency was prepared to approve Plan B as a nonprescription medication, but reversed that decision following a directive from the Department of Health and Human Services Wednesday morning.

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration will decide on Wednesday whether to remove merchandising restrictions on the emergency contraceptive Plan B and allow the product to be merchandised in the front-end without age restrictions, according to a report published Monday in the Washington Post.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Circuit Judge John Belz on Tuesday ruled that Illinois pharmacists could refuse to dispense the emergency contraceptive Plan B, despite a 2005 edict that required pharmacists to dispense Plan B, regardless of their religious beliefs, according to published reports.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Drug maker Watson Pharmaceuticals has made an emergency oral contraceptive available by prescription in the United States, the company said Wednesday.

Watson announced the launch of Ella (ulipristal acetate) in the 30-mg dose, designed to prevent pregnancy up to five days after unprotected sex or failure of other contraceptives. The drug is designed to delay ovulation for five days, the amount of time that sperm can survive in the female genital tract.

SILVER SPRING, Md. The Food and Drug Administration has approved an emergency contraceptive pill made by a French drug maker.

The FDA announced the approval of Ella (ulipristal acetate), designed to prevent pregnancy when taken orally within five days of unprotected sex or contraceptive failure, though it is not designed for routine use as a contraceptive.