FDA Finally Allows OTC Access to One Brand of “Minipill”—A Mini‐step in the Right Direction

By Jeffrey Singer — July 13, 2023

The FDA has finally allowed women to have access to one brand of one form of birth control. it’s time for them to follow the advice of the medical experts, and allow women access to all forms of hormonal contraceptives.

Photo: Nurx

The Food and Drug Administration announced this morning that it has granted marketing approval for the over‐the‐counter sale of one type of birth control pill, a progestin-only pill (also called the “minipill”). As explained here, the minipill is not as easy to use as combination oral contraceptives. Dublin‐based Perrigo, the maker of the pill that will have the brand name Opill, states it hopes to have the pill on the market by 2024.

As Josh Bloom and I wrote in May, enabling women to access this one brand of minipill is a ministep in the right direction. But the FDA should allow all women to access all forms of hormonal contraception over‐the‐counter.

Below are other articles I have written on the topic:

#Reprinted with permission. The original blog post can be found here, on the Cato Institute site

Tags:

birth control pills

minipill

progestin

over the counter drugs

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By Jeffrey Singer

Jeffrey A. Singer, MD received his BA from Brooklyn College and his MD from New York Medical College. After completing his surgical residency and receiving Board Certification he began a private practice as a general surgeon in Phoenix, Arizona and became a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, serving in the Department of Health Policy Studies. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, AZ. His principal areas of scholarship are health care policy, drug policy, drug prohibition, and harm reduction. Dr. Singer has been practicing medicine for more than 30 years.