In A First, Abortion Pills Will Now Be Sold At Retail Pharmacies In US

Pharmacies can apply for certification allowing them to distribute abortion pills, mifepristone with one of the two companies that manufacture it, and upon receiving the certification.

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The US Food and Drug Administration has allowed retail pharmacies for the sale of abortion pills in the United States for the first time, said the agency on Tuesday, reported Reuters. The move by the FDA comes as more states seek to ban medical termination of pregnancy. 

Pharmacies can apply for certification allowing them to distribute abortion pills, mifepristone with one of the two companies that manufacture it, and upon receiving the certification, will be allowed to dispense it directly to patients as per the prescription from a certified prescriber, the report added. 

Earlier, the FDA had said that it would be making those changes in December 2021 when it announced it would relax risk evaluation and mitigation strategies, or REMS, on the pill, that had been in place since the agency approved it in 2000 and were lifted temporarily by the government in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Supplemental applications were submitted by the two manufacturers that make the abortion pills in the US — Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro — that have now been approved by the FDA. 

"Under the Mifepristone REMS Program, as modified, Mifeprex and its approved generic can be dispensed by certified pharmacies or by or under the supervision of a certified prescriber," the agency said on its website on Tuesday.

Mifeprex is the brand name version of mifepristone, which in combination with a second drug called misoprostol that has various uses including miscarriage management, induces an abortion up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy in a process known as medication abortion.

However, the announcement will not provide equal access to all people, said GenBioPro in a statement, which makes the generic version of mifepristone.

Abortion bans, some targeting mifepristone, have gone into effect in more than a dozen states since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to terminating pregnancies when it scrapped its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling last year.