Ortho-McNeil Reduces Prices Of Its Contraceptive Pills To $3.20 For A 30-Day Supply

Ortho-McNeil -- which supplies contraceptives to the majority of family planning clinics nationwide -- on Tuesday said it will charge $3.20 for a 30-day supply of each of the five contraceptive pills that it offers to public health programs -- a more than 90% reduction in price -- the Charleston Gazette reports (Kelly, Charleston Gazette, 8/30). According to WV Family Planning Program Director Denise Smith, the cost of a 30-day supply of one type of contraceptive pill made by Ortho last month increased in West Virginia from one cent to $21.01, and the cost of the company's Ortho Evra patch increased from $12.15 to $22.46 in the store. "The organization has decided to further lower pricing to meet the needs of women and ensure access to contraceptive choices and work with underfunded public health services," an Ortho statement said (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/29). Ortho earlier this month also reduced the price for Ortho Evra to $15 per month, according to the Gazette. West Virginia acting Pharmaceutical Advocate Shana Phares said that Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) asked the company to reassess its price increases. Even with Ortho's price reduction, family planning clinics nationwide face funding challenges as prices of contraceptives have risen from "pennies to dollars," Judith DeSarno, president of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, said.

West Virginia
WVFPP on Thursday ordered a three-month supply of generic contraceptive pills that cost between $1.72 and $14.21 for a 30-day supply. Smith said she ordered 7,000 Ortho Evra patches, but added that clinics cannot give the patches to new patients and that the state will not order more if the price stays at $15. She also said Ortho's price reduction for its pills is "good news overall, but it's a little late for us," adding that she will take into account the company's new prices when WVFPP considers ordering new pills in six weeks (Charleston Gazette, 8/30). Ortho-Evra provided more than 75% of contraceptive pills to the state program, which contracts with private health clinics statewide, and it is the only provider to the state of the birth control patch (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/29).


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