Morning After Pill Sales Signal Success

[bliss_eternal]

August 22, 2007

Morning After Pill Sales Signal Success

Over-The-Counter Demand High, Despite Controversy

(AP) NEW YORK In the year since it was approved for over-the-counter sales, the morning-after pill has become a huge commercial success for its manufacturer, but its popularity and solid safety record haven't deterred critics from seeking to overturn the milestone ruling.

The pill, marketed by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. as Plan B, was the focus of bitter debate for three years. After repeated delays, the Food and Drug Administration declared on Aug. 24, 2006 that customers 18 and older should be able to buy it in pharmacies without a prescription.

Barr began distributing the over-the-counter version last November, and all national pharmacy chains now stock it. The company projects that sales of Plan B will total about $80 million for 2007, almost double the total for 2006 and up eightfold from 2004, when Barr acquired the product as a prescription-only drug.


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linked from:
http://cbs5.com/health/health_story_234164537.html

[uppityperson]

1. How much is it? And here's a good website, just in case someone is stuck

http://www.fwhc.org/birth-control/ecinfo.htm

[lizerdbits]

3. It was about $45 where I live

I'm also fortunate to live in a really blue area so I didn't have to drive all over the place trying to find a pharmacy or pharmacist that would sell it. I got it at CVS, I don't know what kind of policy they have regarding allowing pharmacists to refuse to sell if they're a fundy.

[bliss_eternal]

4. I haven't heard any negative reports about that chain.

When I was reading such reports (pharmacists refusing to fill scripts) it was always Walgreens or Walmart. :eyes:

So glad to hear you were able to get it without a hassle, and it was affordable. :hug:

[Bjornsdotter]

5. Target

...don't forget that Target backed their pharmacist on not sell it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5018646

I don't shop there as a result of this.

Cheers

[bliss_eternal]

6. Thanks for this...!

:hi:
I wasn't aware that Target allowed this, too.
Taking this into consideration, I'll definitely adjust my shopping accordingly.

[Bjornsdotter]

8. I write them every few months

...to ask if they have changed their policy. I also tell them that I will not shop there until they do and that I will spread the word about them.

On a good note, Meijers has a sign by the pharmacy that if any pharmacist refuses to fill your script, you are to call the main office. They fully support our rights and therefore my RX needs are filled by them.

Cheers

[lizerdbits]

7. Oh I didn't know that either

I thought I was doing better there by avoiding walmart. Apparently not so much.

[ThomCat]

2. The nutcases will never stop trying to make it illegal.

They won't be happy until they've legislated every aspect of everyone's sex lives. Who can have sex, who can't, how, with or without what toys, with what options and/or consequences, and who will have to bear those consequences.
x(

[bliss_eternal]

9. Yet they don't seem at all concerned about...

...Viagra. :shrug:

It's always pissed me off that erectile dysfunction medication is easier to access for hetero males, than birth control for women. The inherent double standard and hypocrisy of that is beyond disturbing. I have yet to hear of a "moral" pharmacist denying an unmarried man his "right to a four day erection." :eyes:

[ismnotwasm]

10. I know a nurse

Who used to work in public health. She says everyone should carry TWO plan B's around. She included men. It's not a bad idea for the sexually active. Old school nurses used to take two doses of the early birth control pills that were higher in hormones for the same effect.

The idiots who object to this are so far out of touch with reality I'm surprised they function.