FDA REVIVES PILL HOPES

    The government is considering allowing over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill to women age 18 and older.

    The surprise move yesterday revives efforts to widen access to the emergency contraceptive almost a year after it was thought doomed.

    The Food and Drug Administration notified manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. that it wanted to meet within seven days to iron out new steps the company must take in its three-year battle to sell the pill, called Plan B, without a prescription to at least some women.

    The FDA said a final decision could be reached within weeks, if talks with Barr go well.

    The announcement came just 24 hours before President Bush's nominee to lead the regulatory agency, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, was scheduled to appear before a Senate committee, where he was expected to face grilling on why the morning-after pill had apparently gone into bureaucratic limbo.

    The pill is a high dose of regular birth control that, taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent.

    Advocates and doctors groups say easier access to a pill now available by prescription only could halve the nation's 3 million annual unintended pregnancies, and FDA's own scientists say the pills are safe.

    In December 2003, the agency's independent scientific advisers overwhelmingly backed nonprescription sales for all ages.

    But the FDA rejected that recommendation, citing concern about young teens' use of the pills without a doctor's guidance. Barr reapplied, asking that women 16 and older be allowed to buy Plan B without a prescription and setting up a program for pharmacists to enforce the age rule, just as they now enforce age restrictions on cigarette sales. The FDA last August postponed a decision indefinitely, but yesterday reversed itself, citing overwhelming positive public comments.