Application from HRA Pharma to make birth control more accessible comes just weeks after overturning of Roe v. Wade<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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MONDAY, July 11, 2022 (HealthDay News) — For decades, birth control pills in the United States have only been available with a prescription, but an application<\/a> filed Monday with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an over-the-counter pill might change all that.<\/p>\n The latest effort to make birth control more accessible comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n Applicant HRA Pharma already sells its pill (Opill) in the United States as a prescription-only drug. But it is not the only company looking to go over-the-counter (OTC) with birth control pills: Cadence Health is also in talks with the FDA to do the same and said it plans to submit an application in the coming year, The New York Times<\/em> reported. The timing of the HRA Pharma application is “a really sad coincidence,” Fr \u00a9d \u00a9rique Welgryn, the company’s chief strategic and innovations officer, told The Times<\/em>. “Birth control is not a solution for abortion access,” she stressed.<\/p>\n In his concurring opinion on the recent Supreme Court ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that the 1965 decision that provided a right to contraception should also be overturned. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden issued an executive order<\/a> on Friday to offer continued abortion access across the United States, in an effort to curb the impacts of the court’s ruling.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, House Democrats signed a letter<\/a> to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf requesting a “timely review” of applications to make birth control pills available OTC, and more than 100 Democrats have signed on to a bill to make health insurance companies cover the cost of OTC birth control, The Times<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n HRA Pharma said it expects a decision from the FDA in the next 10 months, the typical waiting period for OTC applications.<\/p>\n