Tang Center Supports Wider Access to Morning-After Pill

Though the prescription status of emergency contraceptive Plan B remains in limbo, most UC Berkeley health care providers have their minds made up.

"We're pro-Plan B and always have been," said Adriana Schoenberg, a nurse practitioner at the Tang Center.

At a meeting Tuesday between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Barr Pharmaceuticals, Barr said the company would resubmit its application to make Plan B available over-the-counter for women 18 and older within two weeks, taking into account the FDA's latest recommendations.

The FDA will revisit the amended application before making a final decision.

Plan B reduces the chance of pregnancy after unprotected sex by about 89 percent but is not a substitute for regular birth control. Although the two pills that constitute Plan B are commonly called the "morning-after pill," Plan B is effective if taken up to 72 hours after sex.

Plan B must be prescribed by a doctor, but in California and eight other states the Emergency Contraception Pharmacy Program allows specially-trained pharmacists to distribute emergency contraception without a prescription.

The Tang Center prescribes Plan B to students as the emergency contraceptive of choice and strongly supports over-the-counter status for Plan B.

"Plan B is definitely the easiest, the most effective and has the least side effects," Schoenberg said.

The center has a liberal policy towards prescribing Plan B, and it routinely offers the pills to students who are only using barrier contraception.

"We give it to anybody who wants it," Schoenberg said. "We offer it even when people don't request it."

Students can receive a prescription by calling the center, and if the center is closed students are referred to a pharmacy that participates in the Emergency Contraception Pharmacy Program.

"We're very in favor of anything that would prevent unwanted pregnancy," Schoenberg said.

Many Berkeley students share the opinion that Plan B should be available without a prescription.

"People know what it's for," sophomore Kaley Myer said. "They're not going to abuse it."

Duramed Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Barr and the makers of Plan B, has been trying to gain nonprescription status for Plan B since 2003, but the application has repeatedly been held up by the FDA.

The proposal was subject to written input from members of the public last year.

According to a summary of the input, about 35 percent of the comments received voiced approval of over-the-counter sales of Plan B for all ages. About one percent of responses indicated that Plan B should remain prescription-only, less than one percent thought the drug should not exist in any form, and the remaining responses were unclear about which method they preferred.

Duramed's original application called for Plan B to be available without a prescription to women ages 16 and over, but the FDA advised raising the age restriction from 16 to 18.

Schoenberg said that limiting availability to women 18 and over contradicts the California law allowing teenagers to receive confidential contraception.

But visiting student Cara Arcuni, who is taking summer courses at UC Berkeley, echoed the FDA's concerns about allowing teenagers to have over-the-counter access.

"Younger teens should have to be carded to get it," she said.

The Tang Center issued 1,327 prescriptions for Plan B in 2005 and Schoenberg said if Plan B were available without a prescription, even more women would use it.

According to the product's Web site, Plan B has never resulted in any serious complications, and many people feel this is reason enough to sell it over-the-counter.

"As long as it's safe, then I don't see why not," said freshman Jessica Yang.

Tags: