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Opill, the first oral contraceptive approved for over-the-counter use in the United States, will be available in stores and online this month, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $19.99 for a one-month supply and $49.99 for a three-month supply, according to Perrigo, the company behind the product. Perrigo announced Monday that Opill has shipped to major retailers and pharmacies and will be available to pre-order from select retailers beginning this week. Once the product hits shelves, anyone can buy it without a prescription. It will also be available at Opill.com. Opill works as a “mini-pill,” using only the hormone...

A judge has issued a ruling confirming that the state of West Virginia can ban the dangerous abortion pill to protect women and save babies from abortions. The abortion drug manufacturer GenBioPro filed a lawsuit that challenges a ban on abortion drugs in West Virginia. GenBioPro, which manufactures the generic chemical abortion drug mifepristone, asked the court to render the state’s pro-life laws unconstitutional, claiming that Congress gave the Food and Drug Administration the power to mandate nationwide access to dangerous chemical abortions—preempting West Virginia’s duly-enacted pro-life laws that protect the lives of the unborn and mothers. But a federal...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) stated that prescribing abortion pill mifepristone in defiance of any Supreme Court ruling against the drug is “on the table,” and that such a ruling will “cost people’s lives, women in particular, sadly. And so, if that’s what’s at stake, we’ll do whatever it takes to save lives.” Host Katy Tur asked, “Is there anything you can do as a Governor if mifepristone gets struck down by the Supreme Court?”

Patients needing a fecal microbiota transplant for recurrent Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infections now have the option of getting stool in pill form.Fecal transplant pills (artistic rendering) (Marc Bruxelle/Shutterstock)The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Vowst, the first oral biologic drug for fecal microbiota that was shown in clinical trials to be as effective as fecal microbiota transplants given rectally. Biologic drugs are derived from blood, proteins, bacteria, and other living organisms.In a traditional fecal microbiota transplant or FMT, healthy donor stool is transferred into the colon of a patient, usually via colonoscopy or retention enema. Late last...

Vice President Kamala Harris mistakenly credited a nonexistent federal agency with approving mifepristone in 2000, the first drug used in a two-drug medication abortion regimen. While speaking with Noticias Telemundo’s Vanessa Hauc in an interview that aired on Friday, Harris said the “Federal Drug Administration” is responsible for approving the abortion pill, Fox News reported. While the agency is not real, it would have the same abbreviation as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which did approve mifepristone:

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he did not like a federal judge’s ruling to suspend Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.

The names of the COVID-19 variants are getting longer. The current version is omicron-XBB.1.5, and it is credited with a spike in hospitalizations during late December in New York City that is now moving throughout the Northeast. Coincidentally, this is the country’s most highly vaccinated and boosted region. According to an analysis by Eric Topol, executive vice president of the Research Department of Molecular Medicine at the Scripps Institute, XBB.1.5 has mutations that lead to immune escape and possesses a distinct growth advantage against the previous dominant omicron variant, BQ.1. More great news includes a study published in Cell that...

A group of students at Boston University has brought a vending machine to campus that dispenses Plan B at a lower cost for students, NBC Boston reported. Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, is a form emergency contraception that can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex or when another birth control method might’ve failed. The vending machine, one of the first of its kind in the country, is located in the basement of the student union on Boston University's campus, NBC Boston reported. Instead of snacks, the machine is stocked with a generic version of Plan B (levonorgestrel) sold...

Vice President Kamala Harris has said she had “no symptoms” following her COVID-19 diagnosis - but some medical experts were left baffled after it was revealed she was taking an antiviral pill designed to treat patients with severe cases. Harris’ office announced Tuesday that the vice president was prescribed and had used Pfizer’s Paxlovid following a consultation with her doctors just hours after she tested positive for the virus. Paxlovid is designed to reduce severe symptoms among high risk patients, which has some experts questioning why it would be prescribed to a healthy, double-boosted and asymptomatic 57-year-old patient. “Asymptomatic covid...

MADISON, Wis.– They’ve been called a ‘game-changer’ in treating COVID-19, but local healthcare workers say Wisconsin’s supply of coronavirus pills is largely going unused. A challenge to prescribe “It’s not as easy to get these pills out to people as you might think,” UW Health Hospitalist Dr. Bart Caponi told News 3. When state hospitals and pharmacies got their first shipments of pills in January, Caponi expected they’d go quickly. “They’re for people who are at the highest risk of becoming very sick from COVID, but haven’t become very sick just yet. They can really help a lot of people,”...

BENGALURU, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd (REDY.NS) will launch its generic version of Merck's (MRK.N) antiviral COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir, and price it at 35 rupees ($0.4693) per capsule, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday. The overall cost for a patient treated with a 5-day course of 40 capsules of the generic drug, to be sold under brand name 'Molflu', will come up to 1,400 rupees ($18.77). In comparison, the treatment with Merck's pill in the United States costs $700.

During an interview aired on Wednesday’s edition of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” President Joe Biden stated that the government has ordered millions of the Pfizer coronavirus antiviral pills, but “I hope we don’t get there. Because if people get the shots, they get their two shots and a booster, they’re not going to be in a position where they’re going to need such a pill.”

During an interview aired on Wednesday’s edition of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” President Joe Biden stated that it will take “weeks to a month” to get the Pfizer coronavirus pill to hospitals, but “it won’t be enough to get to all the hospitals.” Host David Muir asked, “Do you have any idea how quickly the American people will actually see these pills? How soon we’re going to be able to get them to hospitals that are already seeing patients?”

U.S. health regulators on Wednesday authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans will be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the virus. The oral drug, Paxlovid, is a faster, cheaper way to treat early COVID-19 infections, though initial supplies will be extremely limited. All of the previously authorized drugs against the disease require an IV or an injection. An antiviral pill from Merck also is expected to soon win authorization. But Pfizer's drug is all but certain to be the preferred option because of its mild side effects and superior...

Pfizer says testing on its planned COVID-19 treatment pill has shown it is effective against the omicron variant while also maintaining its efficacy in reducing hospitalizations and deaths caused by other variants. According to the Associated Press, a study conducted by Pfizer on 2,250 people showed the pill reduced combined hospitalizations and deaths by about 89% among high-risk adults who took the pill shortly after noticing COVID symptoms. Testing conducted by separate labs showed the treatment remained effective against the omicron variant, despite the pill being developed before omicron was spreading around the world. The treatment was tested against a...

Pfizer announced Tuesday that a study found that its oral, antiviral COVID-19 pill Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent in high-risk patients. Pfizer said that the 2,246 patients in the study were given the pill within three days of symptom onset, adding that they had mild to moderate symptoms as well as an underlying medical condition or an increased risk of becoming severely infected by COVID-19. The company said the results have been shared with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a part of the company's request for emergency use authorization. Pfizer requested...

Merck’s antiviral pill for COVID-19, molnupiravir, appears to be far less effective than early results from the clinical trial first suggested.According to an analysis by scientists at the FDA, the experimental pill cut the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by about 30%, compared to a placebo, and the pill showed no benefit for people with antibodies against COVID-19 from prior infection.The updated analysis showed 48 hospitalizations or deaths among study participants who were randomly assigned to take the antiviral drug, compared to 68 among those who took a placebo.Those results come from the full set of 1,433 patients...

Pharmaceutical giant Merck said Friday that its COVID-19 pill could be less effective than originally thought. The drugmaker said the experimental pill, molnupiravir, was shown to be 30 percent effective in fighting hospitalizations and deaths in a study of 1,433 patients.

The Biden administration is expected to announce this week that it is purchasing 10 million courses of Pfizer’s covid pill, a multibillion-dollar investment in medication that officials hope will help change the trajectory of the pandemic by staving off many hospitalizations and deaths, according to two people with knowledge of the transaction. U.S. officials see this antiviral pill, and another by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, as potential game-changers to help restore a broader sense of normalcy and are eager to add them to a small arsenal of treatments for Americans who contract the coronavirus. With breakthrough cases rising and 30...

Thursday was a rough day for Moderna shares after the company released revenue figures and FY guidance that deeply disappointed Wall Street expectations (potentially destroying the reputation of financier Steve Weiss, arguably Moderna's biggest promoter on Wall Street, in the process). But on Friday, Pfizer - Moderna's biggest rival - rubbed Moderna's nose in it by announcing a revolutionary new oral COVID antiviral similar to the Merck 'miracle pill' that won approval from UK regulators yesterday.The news sent Pfizer's stock surging, while Moderna and Merck shares tumbled, during premarket trade. Pfizer shares were trading up 11%+:The key takeaway from the...