Wal-Mart officials on Friday announced the company by March 20 will begin to stock and fill prescriptions for Barr Laboratories' emergency contraceptive Plan B at its more than 3,700 pharmacies nationwide, the AP/Yahoo! News reports (Kabel, AP/Yahoo! News, 3/4). EC can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company currently only stocks and fills prescriptions for the drug at pharmacies in Massachusetts and Illinois because it is required by law to do so. "We expect more states to require us to sell [EC] in the months ahead," Ron Chomiuk, Wal-Mart vice president of pharmacy, said in a statement on Friday, adding, "Because of this, and the fact that [Plan B] is an FDA-approved product, we feel it is difficult to justify being the country's only major pharmacy chain not selling it." However, the company said it will keep its so-called "conscientious objection" policy, which allows pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions and refer patients to another pharmacy or pharmacist (Zimmerman, Wall Street Journal, 3/4). The company said it decided to keep the policy "in the belief that we are doing what is best for the business, while respecting our individual associates" (Reuters, 3/3).

Conn. AG Reaction, Next Steps
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) on Friday announced that state health plans would not cover prescriptions from Wal-Mart or other pharmacies that do not stock Plan B, Bloomberg/Philadelphia Inquirer reports (Coleman-Lochner, Bloomberg/Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/4). Blumenthal said he would ask Wal-Mart to clarify their policy, adding that his decision to remove pharmacies from the state's health plan coverage would remain until he is certain "every pharmacy will dispense [Plan B] wherever it is medically prescribed" (Barbaro, New York Times, 3/4).