Worldwide, more than 220 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using effective contraceptive methods. As part of the historic London Summit on Family Planning in 2012, multiple stakeholders—including contraceptive manufacturers—made substantial commitments to help close this gap. In 2013, Merck/MSD agreed to reduce the price of its single-rod contraceptive implants, IMPLANON® and IMPLANON NXT®, by almost 50% in targeted countries. The original agreement was to run through 2018. This month, Merck/MSD announced plans to extend this pricing discount on IMPLANON NXT ® for another five years, through 2023. This price reduction applies to the priority countries identified in the Family Planning (FP) 2020 initiative.
This extension is good news for women living in low-income countries who may not have been able to access implants otherwise. The price cut gives women a broader mix of WHO-prequalified modern contraceptive methods to choose from. IMPLANON NXT® is a long-acting reversible contraceptive method that offers three years of pregnancy prevention; it must be inserted and removed/replaced by a physician or trained health care worker. According to Merck/MSD, the number of IMPLANON® and IMPLANON NXT® implants provided in the priority countries has doubled since the price cut was first announced in May 2013.