Area pharmacists speak out on Plan B

By Cynthia T. Pegram, The News and Advance, (Lynchburg, Virginia), August 27, 2006

By the end of the year, Plan B will be available for over-the-counter sales in many pharmacies across the nation.

In the Lynchburg area, local pharmacists will be making their own decisions about stocking the drug, which provides women with a second chance at preventing pregnancy if they missed the first chance.

The Food and Drug Administration last week said women 18 and older - and men purchasing for their partners - can buy Plan B from pharmacies without a doctor’s note.

"In the past we’ve had it on prescription," said Bill Wingfield, pharmacist and an owner of Tom Jones Drug in Lynchburg.

Wingfield said the drug will go behind the counter, just as products like Sudafed and codeine-containing cough syrups do now.

While Plan B cannot be sold to girls younger than 18 without a prescription, Wingfield does not think having to check customers for their age will be a problem.

In order to verify age, "we have to have a photo ID or a driver’s license," Wingfield said. "It won’t be any different from selling beer or cigarettes, as far as ID-ing people."

However, Wingfield said he didn’t think other measures for regulating cold medications - like the required signing of name and address in a record book for monitoring purposes - will apply, because of the privacy issue.

Wingfield said he is concerned that some patients may misuse the drug as a routine birth control method. And, he noted, it’s interesting that an over-the-counter Plan B can be purchased by men, giving an older male the option of buying it for an underage woman.

Roger Akers, pharmacist for Allied Community Pharmacy in Rustburg, said that he doesn’t see a high demand for Plan B.

"It’s been available on prescription and I’ve never had a call for it," said Akers. "I don’t think I’ll have much demand."

He hasn’t yet decided if he’ll stock it, but will study the issue. Akers said he’d have to decide if he believes it’s a morning-after pill, or a birth-control pill.

"If I do some research, and if I determine it’s just a morning-after pill, I won’t stock it," he said. "If it’s pretty much a birth- control pill, then I will."

Akers said he doesn’t think Plan B should be sold without a prescription.

"One of the really good things about women on birth control pills - they have to go to the doctor and get the checkups," said Akers. "They’re so important."

Those yearly checkups can detect an array of potential problems, ranging from cancer to thyroid disease, as well as giving women a chance to talk to the doctor about other issues, he said.

"With this Plan B, some of the women won’t go in for their checkups."

Michael Robertson, pharmacist with Robertson Drug Co. in Lynchburg, said that once the paperwork requirements are complete about the drug, "we probably will carry it, and will comply with the regulation as it comes out."

Having to verify age with purchase is "not too much more work," he said.

Rick Pack, pharmacist/owner of Appomattox Drug Store, said that Plan B "is not an item we currently stock."

"I do feel this is not a drug the general public should be able to use without the treatment of a doctor. I would worry about overuse."

Dr. Lewis Dabney, a Lynchburg specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, said that the drug is "Plan B, not Plan A."

The FDA says it’s safe for over-the-counter use, he said, and as an emergency contraceptive it is not a risk if a pregnancy already exists, said Dabney. Ideally, he said, a woman needs a negative pregnancy test before taking it

Although the drug has been available in the past, many women have not had access to it as a prescription drug in the time period they needed it, he said.

And it’s not for routine birth control.

"Plan B is not nearly as effective as being on birth control beforehand," he said.

A woman can become pregnant on any day in her cycle, although it is most likely on day 14. However, women don’t ovulate in a predictable pattern. If she has unprotected intercourse, Plan B "lowers the risk of getting pregnant by about 75 percent," he said. "But it’s still not as good as being on the birth control pill."

While Dabney noted that both those who are for its use and those against it have legitimate points, having Plan B available "is a good thing for women."

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