Boots’s initiative to offer a 50% discount on its morning-after pill to customers using a BLACKFRIDAY50 discount code – a promotion that was publicised on social media last week (November 26), but appears to have been taken down since – was met with criticism.
But despite calls from the charity British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and Labour MPs for Boots to keep offering access to emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) at a discounted price, the multiple told C+D yesterday (November 29) that this will not be possible.
“This Black Friday promotion that ran on our Online Doctor hub was 50% off all men’s and women’s private healthcare services,” a spokesperson told C+D.
“We sometimes offer short-term promotions in order to raise awareness of certain services, but it is not usually possible to sustain significant discounts in the long term,” they added.
When C+D tried applying the BLACKFRIDAY50 promo code on the Boots UK website today to purchase the generic version of levonorgestrel, a message highlighted that the promo code "is not valid".
"In line with other high-street pharmacies"
The Boots UK “pricing model takes into account the expert clinical advice and consultation” the multiple provides and offers prices that are “in line with other high street pharmacies”, a Boots UK spokesperson continued.
Boots UK offers a range of EHC options, priced from £15.99 to £34.95. The Black Friday offer made the generic version of levonorgestrel available for around £8.
The Boots spokesperson added that the morning-after pill “is available for free in many NHS settings, including in Boots pharmacies that have been commissioned by local NHS clinical commissioning groups to provide such a service”.
MPs: Pharmacies “impose a sexist surcharge”
Yesterday (November 29), the Parliamentary Labour Party's women's committee sent a letter to Sebastian James, managing director of Boots UK, asking the multiple “not to double the price of emergency contraception” and keep it at its temporarily discounted price.
It wrote: “The discount you are offering, and the fact that the same medication is available from other online retailers for less than £4, demonstrates that, despite price reductions in 2017, pharmacies continue to impose a sexist surcharge on this important medication.”
The multiple “has the opportunity to lead the way on this issue”, the committee added, and could “demonstrate a clear commitment to improving women’s reproductive health and wellbeing”.
“We implore you to do so,” it wrote.
When approached by C+D, the Company Chemists’ Association – which represents pharmacy multiples including Boots UK – said that the organisation does “not comment on the commercial activity of our individual members”.
“Entirely possible” for pharmacy chains to reduce cost
The letter also follows criticism by the BPAS, which started a petition calling on Boots to maintain its EHC prices at Black Friday levels.
As of today, the petition has received over 1,500 signatures.
In a statement published yesterday the BPAS added: “Across all the major high-street pharmacy chains, generic contraception is sold at a significant mark-up.
“The current offer from Boots, and the fact a small online retailer is able to sell the same medication for less than £4, shows that it is entirely possible for big pharmacy chains to make emergency contraception much more affordable.”
The charity claimed on Twitter that online pharmacy Chemist4U sells the morning-after pill for just £3.39.
Online pharmacy @Chemist4U are able to sell emergency contraception for £3.39 year round. Why can't a high street giant like Boots do the same? https://t.co/nyOAnk7Dxq
— BPAS (@BPAS1968) November 26, 2021
In 2018, Boots UK reduced the price of its generic brand of levonorgestrel from £26.75 to £15.99 across all its pharmacies. The move came months after the BPAS launched a campaign in 2017, calling on major retailers to lower the prices of emergency contraception.
However, while Superdrug and Tesco halved their prices, selling the morning-after pill for around £13, Boots did not initially agree to follow the move.
Earlier this month, the Scottish Government launched a bridging contraception service, allowing Scottish pharmacies to provide a three-month supply of desogestrel as bridging contraception to their patients.
Last month, NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) also announced it was expanding the NHS Community Pharmacy Contraception Management Service pilot to allow greater access to ongoing oral contraception.
