The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug that the manufacturer called the first oral contraceptive that also treats heavy menstrual bleeding.

The Center for Reproductive Rights on Wednesday asked a federal court to reopen its 2005 lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration for imposing age restrictions on emergency contraceptive drugs.

A possible pill mix-up has prompted Pfizer to recall more than two dozen lots of a prescription contraceptive drug, the drug maker said.

"I am appalled that politics has once again trumped science," wrote Brooklyn College Health Clinic director and nurse practitioner Ilene Tannenbaum in a letter to the New York Times. That reaction summed up much of the medical community's response to the Department of Health and Human Services' overruling of the Food and Drug Administration's decision to make the Plan B contraceptive pill a full nonprescription product.

Food and Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg on Wednesday issued a public statement that the agency was prepared to approve Plan B as a nonprescription medication, but reversed that decision following a directive from the Department of Health and Human Services Wednesday morning.

The Food and Drug Administration will decide on Wednesday whether to remove merchandising restrictions on the emergency contraceptive Plan B and allow the product to be merchandised in the front-end without age restrictions, according to a report published Monday in the Washington Post.

An appeals court has thrown out an attempt by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries to stop Watson Pharmaceuticals from selling a generic contraceptive, Watson said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday reported that the use of condoms is up in teen males.

A wave of patent expirations over the next several years will open up a broad swath of drugs to generic competition, and India's Lupin Pharmaceuticals is looking to benefit, according to published reports.

Qualitest Pharmaceuticals, an Endo Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, issued a voluntary, nationwide recall of multiple lots of oral contraceptives at the retail level.

Teva Pharmaceuticals has launched an authorized generic version of a contraceptive made by Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Teva said.

Generic drug maker Lupin is seeking approval for a generic version of a contraceptive made by Warner Chilcott, according to published reports.