Larger gals may need a Plan C for their contraception.
Makers of Europe’s version of the Plan B morning-after pill are warning customers that their drug is completely worthless to women weighing 176 pounds or more.
HRA Pharma said on Monday that its Plan B European equivalent, Norlevo, begins to be less effective when a woman weighs 165 pounds — and has no impact on users who tip scales at 176 pounds.
Plan B in the United States is made by Teva Pharmaceuticals, which declined to comment Monday on the Norlevo revelation.
But Plan B is “absolutely identical” to Norlevo, said James Trussell, a senior fellow with the Guttmacher Institute, a think tank on reproductive health.
“I believe women have the right to know this in order to make better and more informed decisions,” he said.
The weight issue goes back to 2011 research that linked lost effectiveness in levonorgestrel, the primary ingredient of Plan B and Norlevo, to women with higher body-mass indexes.
Clinical trials of Plan B — before its FDA approval in 1999 — did not include any studies into weight.
“The FDA is currently reviewing the available and related scientific information on this issue,” FDA spokeswoman Erica Jefferson said.