Walgreens, CVS to offer abortion pills after FDA relaxes regulations (NASDAQ:WBA)
Six months after the US Supreme Court rejected Roe v. Wade, the FDA has introduced a regulatory change that allows retail pharmacies to supply abortion pills. To date, only a few mail order pharmacies and certified doctors allowed to prescribe and stock the pill, providing greater access to the drug in states where abortion is still legal. Pharmacies will still have to decide whether to supply the drug, but some sellers have jumped in.
Quote: “We plan to become a program-certified pharmacy,” said Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA) said in a statement. “We are working through the registration, necessary training for our pharmacists, as well as evaluating our pharmacy network on where we normally distribute products with additional FDA requirements. and will distribute these products in accordance with federal and state law.”
Other companies, such as Rite Aid (NYSE:rad), is reviewing new FDA regulations, while CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) said they will seek certification when permitted by law. In addition to being certified, pharmacies must commit to only purchasing prescriptions from certified prescribers, while maintaining records and confidentiality. Before the pandemic, there was a “in-person” provision requiring patients to visit healthcare providers at a physical location, but that provision was relaxed in April 2021 and allows permission to send drugs by mail.
Other details: The abortion pill containing mifepristone works with another medicine called misoprostol by blocking a hormone needed to maintain pregnancy and causing uterine contractions. Mifepristone is sold by Danco Laboratories as well as generic manufacturers such as GenBioPro under the brand name Mifeprex. According to the Guttmacher Institute, abortion pill use has steadily increased among medical providers since it was first approved in 2000, accounting for more than half of all abortions in the United States last year. .