Approval likely would account for all weight on scale of FDA decision if not for self-report element in design of HRA Pharma’s actual use study for OTC switch of 0.075-mg norgestrel branded Opill. HRA’s sNDA offers lesson for using electronic diary apps in self-report studies.

The US FDA took three high profile applications to an external advisory committee meeting during the week of 8 May – and offered a very skeptical read on the approvability of each. All three won positive votes from the committees, in no small part thanks to the messages delivered during the Open Public Hearings.

A unanimous US FDA advisory committee vote in favor of a landmark decision to make oral contraceptives available without a prescription should be history in the making. But the desire to make history – rather than address FDA’s significant concerns with the actual application for Perrigo’s Opill – seems to have carried the day.

A unanimous US FDA advisory committee vote in favor of a landmark decision to make oral contraceptives available without a prescription should be history in the making. But the desire to make history – rather than address FDA’s significant concerns with the actual application for Perrigo’s Opill – seems to have carried the day.