HRA Phar­ma seeks ap­proval for first-ever OTC birth con­trol pill in the US

Days af­ter Pres­i­dent Joe Biden signed an ex­ec­u­tive or­der di­rect­ing HHS to ex­pand ac­cess to birth con­trol, HRA Phar­ma filed an ap­pli­ca­tion to be­come the first FDA-ap­proved con­tra­cep­tive pill avail­able over the counter.

HRA Phar­ma, which was re­cent­ly ac­quired by Dublin-based Per­ri­go for more than $2 bil­lion, has filed to make its dai­ly prog­estin-on­ly Opill avail­able with­out a pre­scrip­tion.

“This his­toric ap­pli­ca­tion marks a ground­break­ing mo­ment in con­tra­cep­tive ac­cess and eq­ui­ty,” HRA’s chief strate­gic op­er­a­tions and in­no­va­tion of­fi­cer Frédérique Wel­gryn said in a news re­lease. “Mov­ing a safe and ef­fec­tive pre­scrip­tion birth con­trol pill to OTC will help even more women and peo­ple ac­cess con­tra­cep­tion with­out fac­ing un­nec­es­sary bar­ri­ers.”

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