An FDA advisory panel on Wednesday recommended the agency allow a birth control pill to be available over the counter in the U.S. for the first time.
The panel came to the decision after a two-day public meeting.
The advisors' vote is not binding, and the FDA is expected to make a final decision this summer.
If the application is approved, Opill will be the first contraceptive pill to be sold over the counter in the United States. It would join emergency contraceptives like Plan B on pharmacy shelves.
"For a product that has been available for the last 50 years, that has been used safely by millions of women, we thought it was time to make it more available," Frederique Welgryn, chief strategy officer of HRA Pharma, a French drugmaker owned by the pharmaceutical company Perrigo, when the company announced the application for over-the-counter use.
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