Since the 1960s, tens of millions of women have taken hormone-based tablets, which have long been the most widely used birth control method in the U.S. Up to this point, each of them needed a prescription.The first such drug to leave behind the pharmacy counter is once-daily Opill, which the Food and Drug Administration approved for sale without a prescription. There will be no age restrictions on sales, and the manufacturer, Ireland-based Perrigo, won’t begin shipping the tablet until early in the following year.
