The Morning After is when you can buy your medicine yourself

Barr Pharmaceuticals recently announced that sales of the Plan B “morning-after” pill nearly doubled last year, exceeding its expectations, vs. its previous Rx-only annual sales.

Morality issues aside, Plan B's sales growth indicates the power of the patient (read: consumer) to seek out clinically proven drugs when they are given freer access to them

Look at nicotine replacement therapy. Doubled after the patches went OTC from Rx. Look at the recent brilliant success that GSK is having with alli (read: Orlistat/Xenical).

By reducing barriers to access, patients and consumers are able to take control of their own health needs.

Weight management. Unwanted pregnancy. Smoking cessation.

The public health benefits for these “lifestyle” issues are tremendous.

Pharmaceutical companies spend millions upon millions of dollars addressing physician writing of their medicines. But look what happens when you remove the Rx/Physician barrier. Greater use. Greater compliance. Better results.

More and more pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare companies need to understand the barriers and the drivers to compliance. The results can be better sales, better compliance, better health.