Preven Company Forgoes
Profit To Raise Awareness For
Emergency Contraception

Canadian pharmaceutical company Shire Canada Inc. recently cut the price of the emergency contraceptive Preven by 77% as part of its effort to make the drug more accessible, the National Post reports. Shire said the drop in price, from $22 to $5, will raise awareness for the drug. The awareness for emergency contraception, on a scale of one to 10, is probably one, Shire CEO Joseph Rus said, asserting that Shire worked with the company’s American supplier to lower the price.

Women should not be denied this socially responsible contraceptive option because of price, accessibility or lack of awareness, Rus said. As a result of the price cut, Planned Parenthood of Toronto Executive Director Joy Thompson said that her organization would buy 250% more than its usual supply. But John Hof, president of British Columbia’s branch of Campaign Life Coalition, likened the company’s strategy to that of a drug dealer who lowers the price to get buyers hooked on the product, then reverses the cuts. Hof says that he considers Preven an abortifacient because it blocks implantation of the fertilized ovum, asserting that pregnancy begins at contraception and that Shire was trying to redefine abortion through semantics.

Thompson, Shire representatives and Preven researcher Dr. Albert Yuzpe warned against confusing Preven with the abortion drug RU-486, as Preven blocks implantation in the uterine wall and thus does not disrupt a pregnancy that is implanted. The price comes as the health ministry finalizes plans to allow pharmacists to prescribe the drug to women who have not visited a doctor. (Vallis, National Post, 5/2).

Cyndy Recker , Director of Information and Education, Canadian Abortion Rights Action League.