Teva Pharmaceuticals is waiting on a decision from the US Food and Drug Administration on whether it will end the age restriction on who can buy its Plan B emergency contraceptive pill without a prescription.
A decision made in favour of Teva’s request would mean the pill is sold over the counter to girls aged 16 and under. The ruling could be made today.
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Teva Women’s Health vice-president Amy Niemann told the Wall Street Journal that the company was very hopeful that its application would be approved.
Plan B was approved in 1999 and as of 2009, the pill has been available to women aged 17 and older without a prescription.
The product, which can be taken up to three days after intercourse, contains higher doses of female hormone progestin than birth-control pills to block a potentially fertilised egg from becoming implanted in a woman’s uterus.
