Regulatory and Washington

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday denied a request made by Teva Pharmaceuticals to relax merchandising restrictions for the emergency contraceptive Plan B. Presently, Plan B can be sold without a prescription to women older than 17 years old but only in a pharmacy and from behind the pharmacy counter. Women younger than 17 years require a prescription to acquire Plan B.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — At the request of the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. marshals on Tuesday seized raw materials imported by Infinity Marketing Group containing ephedrine alkaloids, a large family of pharmacological compounds called sympathomimetics that have been banned by the FDA for use in dietary supplements since 2004.

The seizure took place in Rancho Dominguez, Calif. Through this action, FDA removed more than $70,000 worth of dietary supplement ingredients from the market.

NEW YORK — The state government of Washington is set to bow out of the liquor business on June 1 thanks to a ballot initiative that passed last month, but two labor unions are hoping to stop it, according to published reports.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday issued seven warning letters to companies marketing over-the counter human chorionic gonadotropin products that are labeled as "homeopathic" for weight loss. The letters warn the companies that they are violating federal law by selling drugs that have not been approved and by making unsupported claims for the substances. There are no FDA-approved HCG drug products for weight loss.

WASHINGTON — George Paz, Express Scripts chairman and CEO, and David Snow, Medco Health Solutions chairman and CEO, were in a pair of hot seats Tuesday afternoon before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. Many of the questions posed by Senators on the subcommittee challenged the respective chief executives on how the proposed merger would negatively impact retail pharmacy and how the proposed merger would result in a dominant marketshare of the mail order pharmacy business.

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration will decide on Wednesday whether to remove merchandising restrictions on the emergency contraceptive Plan B and allow the product to be merchandised in the front-end without age restrictions, according to a report published Monday in the Washington Post.

Bootlegging, debauching and murdering its way through the second season, HBO’s Prohibition-themed series “Boardwalk Empire” has dramatized an era alien to its viewers but whose vestiges have remained in much of the country.


ATLANTA — As many as 111 million Americans had gotten a flu shot by mid-November, representing 36% of the 305 million Americans over the age of 6 months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated in a media telebriefing Monday afternoon. The number of people getting vaccinated is up slightly from last year, the CDC reported, most notably among children and seniors.