No More Cheap Plan B One-Step on Amazon

You can still buy Plan B One-Step, the 1 pill emergency contraceptive brand, on Amazon. The current price is $46.90 and this might be the reason why:

It is normal for prices to vary from store to store, but such a steep drop in price raises red flags, especially since the wholesale acquisition cost (the cost for wholesalers to purchase the product from the manufacturer, Teva Women’s Health) is estimated to be $32.50 for Plan B One-Step. Wholesalers then sell the product for an estimated $39.00. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that any Amazon.com vendor would be able to acquire Plan B One-Step wholesale and sell it for $16 without taking a substantial financial hit.

Plan B One-Step at Amazon.com

 Privacy and a very good price. If you're sexually active, buy it in advance and keep it handy!



(via)

Uni Pill, iPill, Next Choice One Dose, Plan B One-Step

The iPill emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) is now replaced with the Uni Pill brand on Amazon.


The other available one-pill dose ECP brands are Next Choice One Dose and Plan B One-Step. (Note the difference between Next Choice -- two-pill brand -- and Next Choice One Dose -- one-pill brand.)






So, update, make sure you have a dose handy if you're sexually active and aren't planning a pregnancy, and spread the word about emergency contraception.

The Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP), Still Restricted After All These Years

"Was I really raped if my skull wasn't fractured in the attack?" "Will I be allowed to set foot inside the ED if there's even the slightest chance that my mere pregnant presence could perturb an employee?"

When these are legitimate questions you have to ask yourself if you're a woman of reproductive age in today's America, it's likely you won't have much time and energy left over to ponder the nonsensical restrictions on the sale of ECPs, like Plan B One-Step, and the FDA's ongoing contempt of court.

So here's an update on the latest developments:

Teva, the manufacturer of the emergency contraceptive Plan B, announced that they filed an over-the-counter application for Plan B One-Step with the Food and Drug Administration this week. The application requests that the agency make the emergency contraceptive available without a prescription for women of all ages.


This development comes on the heels of the Center for Reproductive Rights filing a motion for contempt against the FDA for failing to follow a 2009 federal court order regarding Plan B. On March 23, 2009, Judge Edward Korman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York found that the FDA's prior decision to limit over-the-counter access to Plan B to women over 16 was based on politics rather than science. He ordered the agency to reconsider that decision.


...


The Center originally filed a Citizen Petition with the FDA in 2001 on behalf of over 70 medical and public health organizations, asking the agency to grant emergency contraception over-the-counter status. When the FDA refused to rule on the petition, the Center filed a lawsuit in 2005 in federal court. In 2009, the court ruled that the agency had acted in "bad faith and in response to political pressure," not science, when it repeatedly and unreasonably delayed making a decision on Plan B, and that the agency had departed in significant ways from its normal procedures. Soon after the ruling, the FDA acknowledged its obligation to reconsider making Plan B available over-the-counter to all ages and said that it intended to make a final decision on the drug's availability to women under the age of 17. But this year, the agency admitted that it does not plan to reconsider the Citizen Petition, as the court ordered. As a result, the Center argues that the FDA has continued the same pattern of steady and repeated inaction seen during the previous administration.

And while we await the FDA's decision with trembling anticipation, just a reminder:

Plan B One-Step is available.

i-Pill is available.

Nextime is available.

Next Choice is available.

(More on Plan B One-Step, i-Pill/Nextime, and Next Choice.)

i-Pill / Nextime Emergency Contraceptive Pill

SECOND UPDATE Nov. 2011: Back to i-Pill on Amazon, with Nextime now out-of-stock. The i-Pill and Nextime links now go to their respective Amazon pages. Just see which one is available and buy it, they're the same ECP.

UPDATE: The i-Pill's brand name has been changed to Nextime. I've changed the post to reflect that.

Leave it to Amazon to alert us to the availability of the i-Pill / Nextime emergency contraceptive pill. What is the i-Pill / Nextime?

You already know what Plan B and Plan B One-Step are. The i-Pill / Nextime is the same as Plan B One-Step and, since we're on the subject, the same as Levonelle One Step/Levonelle 1500 (different manufacturers, of course).

Plan B -- 2 pills (0.75 mg levonorgestrel/pill); take both pills at the same time as soon as possible after unprotected intercourse, up to 120 hours (5 days).

i-Pill/Nextime/Plan B One-Step -- 1 pill (1.5 mg levonorgestrel); take the pill as soon as possible after unprotected intercourse, up to 120 hours (5 days).

• The i-Pill / Nextime, like Plan B One-Step, is an emergency contraceptive pill. You take it to prevent pregnancy *after* an act of unprotected sexual intercourse. The sooner you take it the more effective it is (up to 89% reduction in pregnancy risk).

• The i-Pill / Nextime doesn't work if you're already pregnant. It will not terminate a pregnancy.

• Because the i-Pill / Nextime contains only a progestin (levonorgestrel) you can take it even if you can't use regular birth control pills.

• The most common side effects are nausea, vomiting, breast tenderness--should resolve in a day or two--and menstrual changes. Most likely you'll have a normal period within the next month, but sometimes the next period can come as much as a week earlier or a week later than usual.

• Last, but not least, don't use the i-Pill / Nextime as regular birth control. Once you've resolved the emergency, select a birth control method that meets your needs and use it correctly and consistently.

Bottom line: If you are a sexually active woman or man of reproductive age and you're not planning a pregnancy you need to have the emergency contraceptive pill handy.

So go check out the i-Pill Emergency Contraceptive Pill / Nextime Emergency Contraceptive Pill at Amazon where it's on sale for a [surprisingly] reasonable $19.98.




N.B. Other than the Amazon link, I have no financial interest in/ties with any of the ECP manufacturers.

Plan B One-Step and Next Choice

The FDA has approved Plan B® One-Step, a new one-pill formulation of the emergency contraceptive Plan B.

Plan B® One-Step is one progestin-only pill (1.5 mg levonorgestrel) you take as soon as possible after unprotected intercourse (most effective within the first 24 hours). The i-Pill is another one progestin-pill emergency contraceptive pill brand, from a different manufacturer.

And speaking of new FDA approvals, the FDA also approved Next Choice™, a generic version of the original two-pill Plan B® formulation.

All clear? Let's review:

Plan B -- 2 pills (0.75 mg levonorgestrel/pill); take both pills at the same time as soon as possible after unprotected intercourse, up to 120 hours. **Plan B had been discontinued.**

Next Choice™ [Plan B generic version] -- 2 pills (0.75 mg levonorgestrel/pill); take both pills at the same time as soon as possible after unprotected intercourse, up to 120 hours.

Plan B® One-Step/i-Pill -- 1 pill (1.5 mg levonorgestrel); take the pill as soon as possible after unprotected intercourse, up to 120 hours.

Oh, and in case you forgot:

Although ACOG is encouraged by recent FDA actions, it reiterates its long-held position that there is no valid scientific or medical reason to impose an age restriction on the availability of EC because it is safe and effective for adolescents and women of all ages. ACOG again urges the FDA to withdraw the age restriction altogether and eliminate the behind-the-counter status for EC.

Check out the i-Pill Emergency Contraceptive Pill at Amazon where it's on sale for only $19.98.


ETA: I've added the information about the i-Pill to the original post.

Plan B TV Ad

Photo via

Just saw, for the first time ever, an ad for Plan B on We tv (shown during a program on female criminals, heh!).

It's not yet online anywhere and I'd like to view it at least one more time before critiquing it, but, overall, good for We for airing an ad about emergency contraception.