NEW HAMPSHIRE TO ALLOW PLAN B WITHOUT PRESCRIPTION

New Hampshire recently became the seventh state to pass a law allowing pharmacists to dispense Barr Pharmaceuticals' emergency contraceptive (EC), Plan B, without a prescription - even as a decision on the national level is pending with the FDA.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) signed SB 30 June 16 "authoriz[ing] pharmacists, who establish a collaborative relationship with a physician and meet standards that will be established by the Board of Pharmacy, to provide EC without a prescription."

The New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy will begin to establish standards for dispensing EC at its next meeting, according to the governor's office. The bill will go into effect Aug. 16, 2005, according to Pharmacy Access Partnership, a non-profit organization that focuses on expanding consumer access to contraceptives and reproductive health services.

Six states -- California, Washington, Hawaii, Maine, Alaska and New Mexico -- have already passed legislation allowing Plan B to be dispensed by pharmacists without a prescription. Five additional states -- Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Vermont -- have EC bills pending in their legislatures.

Despite the activity on the state level, Plan B's federal OTC status is still in limbo at the FDA. Barr first sought OTC status for Plan B in 2003, but the FDA rejected that request last May, saying the application lacked scientific data on the product's OTC use among adolescents younger than 16. The decision sparked controversy because the agency went against the advice of an FDA advisory panel, which in December 2003 voted overwhelmingly in favor of granting the drug OTC status. ()a href="http://www.fdanews.com/did"