Federal health advisers said Wednesday that a decades-old birth control pill should be sold without a prescription, paving the way for a likely U.S. approval of the first over-the-counter contraceptive medication.

The panel of FDA advisers voted unanimously in favor of drugmaker Perrigo’s request to sell its once-a-day medication on store shelves alongside eye drops and allergy pills.

The recommendation came at the close of a two-day meeting focused on whether women could safely and effectively take the pill without a doctor’s supervision. A final FDA decision is expected this summer.

Perrigo’s drug, Opill, would be the first contraceptive pill to be moved out from behind the pharmacy counter. The company said sales could begin late this year if OK’d.

“In the balance between benefit and risk, we’d have a hard time justifying not taking this action,” said Maria Coyle, an Ohio State University pharmacist, who chaired the panel. “The drug is incredibly effective, and I think it will be effective in the over-the-counter realm just as it is in the prescription realm.”

Brigham and Women’s Hospital plans to use a $100 million gift to establish a new institute to study immunology and inflammation, hospital officials announced Wednesday.

The gift from biotechnology entrepreneur Gene Lay, though his Laygend Foundation, is the largest in the history of the hospital, which traces its roots to 1832.

Lay, the founder and CEO of San Diego-based BioLegend Inc., said he has always been fascinated by the immune system’s ability to heal the body.

“With this gift, I am bringing together the best scientific minds I know to translate research discoveries into therapies for immune-mediated diseases rooted in chronic inflammation,” he said.