(Reuters) – U.S. Food and Drug Administration reviewers on Friday raised concerns about allowing over-the-counter use of Perrigo Co’s birth control drug, saying consumers may not correctly follow directions for using the pill, driving the company’s shares 2% lower.
The staff’s review of the application comes ahead of an advisers’ meeting next week, where the panel members will decide on recommending the non-estrogen contraceptive as a daily OTC birth control pill.
The drug, Opill, is expected to be the first such OTC pill in the United States if approved.
Contraceptives have been in focus since the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned the constitutional right to terminate pregnancies as it scrapped a landmark ruling in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade case.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Shinjini Ganguli)
