FDA Weighing 1st Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators are weighing the first-ever request to make a birth control pill available without a prescription.

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration posted its initial review of a decades-old pill that could become the first drug of its kind to move over the counter.

But the agency flagged concerns about the application from drugmaker Perrigo, including problems with the reliability of some of the company’s data and signs women had trouble understanding the labeling instructions.

An FDA advisory panel will vote next week on whether it should be approved for over-the-counter use.

The meeting is one of the last steps before an FDA decision.