Plan B will become available this week without a prescription, New York Newsday reports.
It is about time.
There are also reports that criticism has been voiced over the fact that the manufacturer has achieved exclusivity for a three year period in exchange for doing some further studies. Exclusivity, critics charge, will keep the price of Plan B high without competition.
The manufacturer of Plan B spent many, many months moving this switch. The obstacles to the switch were not scientific, they were political. They had no business in the FDA process. The cost was great, I’m sure, to the company, and to the individual women who suffered as a consequence. It is that price which merits public concern, not that of a three year exclusivity.
Given the fact that there was so much concern about the switch, further studies should be welcomed. And by all means, given the arbitrary and political obstacles placed in the way of the this switch, the manufacturer has earned our respect, and even a chance at exclusivity.
