Health

AMA opposes FDA action on Plan B

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 5, 2004

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The Food and Drug Administration should reconsider immediately its decision to deny over-the-counter status to emergency contraception (Plan B), according to a policy adopted by the AMA at its Annual Meeting in Chicago last month.

"Physicians feel strongly that people need to have easy access to emergency contraception pills, and allowing those medications to be dispensed over the counter is one way to enhance access," said AMA Trustee Ronald Davis, MD.

The Association, along with many other medical societies, has long supported wider availability of this product. Two FDA advisory committees voted overwhelmingly in December 2003 to allow it to be available without a prescription, but in May, the agency took the unusual step of going against that recommendation and turned the application down.

AMA policy also urges that emergency contraception be more readily available from pharmacies and encourages physicians to write advance prescriptions for their patients.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/07/05/hlbf0705.htm.

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