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CNN Live Today

New and Improved Medication Hits Market This Week

Aired May 13, 2002 - 12:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Health news now: changes on the way at the corner drugstore. New and improved labels will appear on over- the-counter medications starting this week.

And our medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland has been checking that out. She joins us now live to tell us all about it.

RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That is right.

HEMMER: Easier to read, simpler stuff? What's happening?

ROWLAND: All that stuff, much easier.

And the big day is Thursday, May 16. What happens on that day is, all these over-the-counter medications, if they are rolling off the production line at drug companies, they have to have these brand new labels.

So, to understand really what this means, I looked in my own medicine cabinet to take a look at the current labels. And what I found on these different medications is a lot of information kind of squeezed on to the label, small type, long paragraphs, some confusing words like precautions, indications, contraindications, so not real easy to read. And there are a number of consumer groups and health care groups that felt the same way.

And they have been working on these new labels for the past five years. And so what they are going to do with the news ones is have bigger type, because the elderly really have a hard time with this. And, also, they are going to eliminate a lot of these big words. And what they will hope to do with this is to the limit side effects you might have from the over-the-counter medications to make sure that you don't all use the same thing.

So, right here what you are looking at is the brand new drug label. You can see, it's almost like "USA Today." It's real easy to read, bullet points. And on every over-the-counter medication, this will be exactly the same. So, you can take three drugs, look in the same place on all three drugs and get the same information. So, that is really what is key here, Bill.

And, also, I brought a couple here for you to even look at.

HEMMER: Do I need a microscope? ROWLAND: No, this is one of the new ones. And some of them have been rolling off the production shelves, production lines over the last year. And this is an old one. Big difference?

HEMMER: Yes, clearly. Boy. Sure. You have to wonder why it took so long.

ROWLAND: I know. You really do.

But, really, what the catalyst here was the change in nutrition, food labels. They made them a lot simpler. And then the people who are making the medications and using them, they are saying, "Hey, why don't we make drugs a lot easier to read and to use?" So, that is why they made a change.

HEMMER: The other thing that we were talking about earlier, did the over-the-counter drugs that we're talking here, were they considered dangerous because you could not read them for -- you mentioned older people were having a difficult time.

ROWLAND: Exactly. And I did ask the FDA about that. And they said they didn't know about any real harm. But sometimes, you've got to remember that these medications, even though they are sold over the counter, can have side effects, like, say, drowsiness. So, if you are taking three medications with the same ingredient, you may be getting too much of a good thing. And you would be causing some of these side effects that you really don't need.

HEMMER: And, ultimately, we benefit, right?

ROWLAND: That is the right. All of us.

HEMMER: Because we can read the darn thing now, can't we?

ROWLAND: Exactly. We know what we're getting and choose more wisely what we need.

HEMMER: That's right. And you can clearly see the difference, too.

ROWLAND: It is huge, isn't it?

HEMMER: Thank you, Rhonda. Nice work. I will keep that for later, I guess. I guess I will need it eventually, right?

(LAUGHTER)

ROWLAND: The one you can read, right?

HEMMER: Thank you, Rhonda. We'll talk to you later.

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