FDA

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration supported drugmaker Perrigo's application to sell the oral contraceptive Opill without a prescription.

Health & Safety

Advisers to the FDA back first over-the-counter birth control pill

5:13pm May 10, 2023

In a unanimous vote, 17-0, a panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended that the agency approve the first over-the-counter birth control pill.

Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will make a recommendation about whether the agency should approve the first over-the-counter birth control pill in the U.S.

Health & Safety

The FDA considers first birth control pill without a prescription

5:05am May 09, 2023

by Rob Stein

The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to allow a birth control pill to be sold over the counter for the first time. An advisory committee opens a two-day hearing Tuesday.

The drug manufacturer GenBioPro received FDA approval for its generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone — the first dose in a widely-used, two-drug protocol — in 2019.

Generic abortion pill manufacturer sues FDA in effort to preserve access

1:49pm April 19, 2023

by Sarah McCammon

GenBioPro, which makes a generic form of mifepristone, is suing the FDA seeking to preserve access to the drug amidst ongoing federal litigation.

Politics & Government

Supreme Court briefly puts on hold lower court's limits on abortion drug mifepristone

8:21pm April 14, 2023

by Ximena Bustillo

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has placed a hold on a lower court ruling that restricts access to the abortion drug mifepristone until Wednesday night.

Health & Safety

Here's what really happened during the abortion drug's approval 23 years ago

5:01am April 14, 2023

by Sydney Lupkin

A Texas judge ruled that the Food and Drug Administration wrongly approved mifepristone in 2000 and accused it of doing a rush job. Here's what really went down.

The Justice Department had asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans for an emergency stay of an abortion pill ruling by a federal judge in Texas while the court hears the case.

U.S. appeals court preserves partial access to abortion pill, but with tighter rules

6:33pm April 13, 2023

by Sarah McCammon

The Biden administration had asked the higher court to stay a decision from a Texas judge while the appeal plays out.

Queue Listen Now

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has pulled its approval for an unproven drug intended to prevent premature births.

Health & Safety

FDA pulls the only approved drug for preventing premature birth off the market

2:55pm April 06, 2023

The drug had been fast-tracked for approval under the agency's accelerated approval program, and has been available for more than a decade, despite the drugmaker's failure to prove that it works.

Shana Alesi administers a COVID-19 booster vaccine to Marine Corps veteran Bill Fatz at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Hines, Ill., in 2021. A new round of boosters could become available for some people this spring.

Health & Safety

The FDA may soon authorize a spring round of COVID-19 boosters for some people

1:22pm March 29, 2023

by Rob Stein

The Food and Drug Administration appears poised to make available the COVID-19 vaccines that target omicron as a second booster for people with weak immune systems and those ages 65 and older.

Queue Listen Now

In this 2021 file photo, NBA star Steph Curry talks to kids in Oakland, Calif., about nutrition and exercise.

Politics & Government

Biden turns to Steph Curry, DoorDash and others to advance nutrition and hunger goals

3:59pm March 24, 2023

by Ximena Bustillo

The White House is working with private companies like DoorDash and Instacart to try to make healthy food more accessible. It also named Olympic athletes to a council focused on nutrition.

A Walgreens pharmacy is pictured on Jan. 5 in New York City. Walgreens says it won't sell mifepristone in states where Republican attorneys general threatened legal action.

Walgreens won't sell abortion pills in red states that threatened legal action

4:19pm March 04, 2023

The 20 states where Walgreens won't sell mifepristone include some where abortion remains legal. It's not clear whether other retail pharmacies will follow suit.