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American Morning

Makers of Claritin Pushing for Over-the-counter Status

Aired April 22, 2002 - 08:41   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: With pollen counts -- pollen counts, that is, hitting the stratosphere this past week, there is perhaps some very welcome news on the horizon for allergy sufferers. The makers of Claritin, the popular prescription drug that you need to take only once a day, appeared at a hearing this morning to try to convince the FDA to approve the drug for over-the-counter sales, and CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now about why this is so controversial.

Good morning, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. You know, this is so appropriate to be doing this story on this show because one of the producers of the show, Brian (ph), says to me every morning, Elizabeth, when is Claritin going over the counter? I'm tired of going to the doctor to get a prescription for a drug that I know will help me, and that has such a good safety profile.

And that's basically the question in front of an FDA advisory committee today, should Claritin go over the counter? Actually, the advisory committee today is going to be talking about it going over the counter for hives. About a year ago, an FDA advisory committee had a hearing about it going over-the-counter for allergies, and decided, actually, that it should go over-the-counter, not just Claritin, but two other drugs, called Zyrtec and Allegra, two other popular drugs. The advisory committee said it should go over the counter, and full FDA has to rule on that. They will probably do so around November.

Now, what does this mean for consumers? Well, in part, it sort of depends on whether or not you have health insurance, and whether or not your health insurance pays for your prescriptions. But let's take a look at how much these three drugs cost if you don't have insurance, if you're paying for it yourself. Now, this is approximate. About a month's worth of Claritin is $106. A month's worth of Zyrtec is $78, and a month's worth of Allegra is either $52 or $99, depending upon which dosage you're looking at. And while we don't know, Schering- Plough isn't saying how much they are going to charge for Claritin if it goes over-the-counter, many allergy drugs just cost $10 for an entire bottle, so the price would definitely come down.

ZAHN: OK. So, besides the cost factor here, there are also concerns about side effects. So what will be openly debated on that front? COHEN: Right. Paula, one of the concerns is that a drug called Seldane, which was considered extremely safe, later turned out to actually have problems, and was taken off the market. So, that's one of the things that the FDA has to consider.

There are also lots of financial issues at stake. A year ago, you will never believe it, but the people who were the big force against it going over the counter was Schering-Plough, which makes Claritin. They said, Oh, no, don't put this over the counter, this should be given by a doctor, only a doctor can diagnose and assess and figure out all of the side effects. And now they're saying, oh, guess what, forget about that, we actually think it's a fabulous idea for it to go over the counter. Now they are fighting for it to go over the counter. I asked a spokesman for Schering-Plough, Well, what happened? This drug is the same drug as it was a year ago, same safety profile, what happened, and he wouldn't tell me. He said all would be revealed at the FDA meeting today.

ZAHN: Well, I guess we shouldn't be all that surprised that financial interests would take center stage, right?

COHEN: Absolutely. I mean, so many people suffer from allergies, about 45 million people. In fact, the force to get this over-the-counter to begin with were -- you guessed it -- the insurance companies, the insurance companies said Americans need to have easy access to Claritin, it works so well, has so few side effects. We think people should be able to buy it in the middle of the night at their drugstore without calling their doctor. Of course, what they didn't say was that also meant that they no longer had to pay for it, and as you saw earlier with those prices, it gets very expensive. So what you have is the insurance company saying, please, put it over the counter, then we won't have to pay for it. And then, on the other side Schering-Plough used to say, No, don't put it over-the-counter, now they're saying put it over the counter. So, actually now, pretty much all the voices are saying, put this drug over-the-counter.

ZAHN: Well, you are going to have to keep us posted on these ever changing battle lines, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Absolutely. And again, Paula, a decision expected in November.

ZAHN: OK. Thanks so much. And hope you don't suffer from allergies. I do on a rare occasion. I feel quite lucky.

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