ArticleMedicine and pharmacy reports2025
Pricing of oral emergency contraception by German community pharmacies - a nationwide mystery caller investigation.
Article in Medicine and pharmacy reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background and aims: The "morning after pill" (oral emergency contraception (EC)) with the active ingredients ulipristal acetate (UPA) and levonorgestrel (LNG) may only be dispensed by community pharmacies (CPs) in Germany. Against the background of free pricing for oral EC as an over-the-counter medicine, German CPs bear a great responsibility with regard to pricing as an important criterion for unrestricted access. The aim was to investigate the pricing of oral EC nationwide. To our knowledge, this is the first study of this type in the world. Methods: The cross-sectional design of the study was based on the simulated patient methodology (SPM) in the form of mystery calls, which is considered the "gold standard". Each of the 392 CPs as a representative random sample was called once by one of six trained mystery callers (MCs). At the beginning of the conversation, the MCs asked about the "morning after pill" without naming a specific oral EC. In the conversation about UPA (scenario-related appropriate outcome due to unprotected sexual intercourse four days ago) or LNG preparations (scenario-related inappropriate outcome), the MCs asked about the price of the respective preparation. Results: The cheapest quoted prices for UPA preparations could be determined in 293 mystery calls and varied from EUR 17.00 to EUR 43.71 (Δ 157%) with a median of EUR 35.75 (interquartile range [IQR] EUR 6.07). The cheapest quoted prices for LNG preparations could be determined in 32 mystery calls and varied from EUR 13.99 to EUR 26.72 (Δ 91%) with a median of EUR 22.99 (IQR EUR 2.99). Conclusions: The price of UPA preparations is much higher than that of LNG preparations. High price levels and wide price ranges, especially for UPA preparations, could restrict access to oral EC.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.