Pharmacy majors Walgreens Boot Alliance Inc. and CVS Health Corp. will start selling abortion pill mifepristone this month at stores in several states where it is legal. Both companies have received certification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to dispense the pill at their retail pharmacies.
Last Friday, President Joe Biden had informed that major retail pharmacy chains were newly certified to dispense medication abortion. Calling the decision a milestone, he also urged all pharmacies that want to pursue this option to seek certification.
As per reports, CVS will carry drugmaker GenBioPro’s generic mifepristone, and Walgreens will carry brand-name Mifeprex from drugmaker Danco.
In a statement, Biden noted that mifepristone has been approved by the FDA as safe and effective for more than 20 years, and that many women will soon have the option to pick up their prescription at a local, certified pharmacy.
As per the FDA website, Mifeprex (mifepristone) and its generic Mifepristone Tablets, 200 mg, collectively known as mifepristone, is approved to end an intrauterine pregnancy through ten weeks gestation. The FDA first approved Mifeprex in 2000 and a generic version of Mifeprex, Mifepristone Tablets, 200 mg in 2019.
Under the Mifepristone REMS Program, mifepristone must be dispensed by or under the supervision of a certified prescriber or by certified pharmacies for prescriptions issued by certified prescribers.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 had overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade, which established a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion for nearly fifty years. In some states, abortion remains legal, while others have banned abortion.
In January 2023, the FDA had taken evidence-based action to support safe access to mifepristone by allowing the continued use of telehealth to prescribe the medication and creating a new option for certified pharmacies to dispense it to patients.
Following this, there were reports that Walgreens and CVS were planning to offer abortion pills in their stores.
Biden also issued an order to further protect access to medication abortion in late January 2023.
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