Posted on 01/24/2008 5:25:38 PM PST by Dysart
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Starting Thursday, allergy sufferers can find the most-prescribed allergy medication available for over-the-counter sales.
Zyrtec is the brand name for cetirizine and is approved to relieve allergy-related sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, and also, itching from hives.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it for sale without a prescription in November.
Dr. Rajan Merchant from Woodland Healthcare said it is the same formula as a doctor would prescribe.
"The efficacy is the same; the dosage is the same as the prescription strength. But the reason it is going over the counter is because we have enough safety data that confirms it is usable as an over-the-counter medication," Merchant said.
Merchant estimates Zyrtec will sell for between $20 and $25. That mean some consumers may be paying more now for the drug than they did when it was covered by insurance. But a generic product may soon be available.
(Excerpt) Read more at kcra.com ...
It was a great drive. Almost 5,000 miles total. We did a scenic route and came through Salt Lake, up through Idaho and then West Yellowstone to Bozeman. Lots of snow, great fun!
It's over the counter, so 1) price wars will ensue between the various makers of the molecule, cetirizine. 2) No insurance company will cover antihistamines in their formularies. So, you'll pay almost as much for them as you did when it was "covered," buck or so per day of therapy. That's a guess, I haven't checked prices yet.
Pfizer doesn't own the rights to Zyrtec. A smaller Euro company, UCB, owns the molecule. I think J&J is selling the name-brand over the counter version here in the US. They did a great job with Prilosec.
I’m tellin ya!
They should send him a check anyway.
I should have known that. Many of Pfizer’s drugs are/were really someone else’s.
Actually, I wasn’t thinking about decongestants.
My wife has a little HBP. Surprisingly, a number of antihistamines raise BP, Benedryl being one of them. Which was something I didn’t know until it became an issue for her.
Practice, practice, practice...
“Practice, practice, practice...”
Huh?
That’s how you get to Carnegie Hall...
Oh, now I get it...lol
I just read an article about practice...it says...
“Pick up your instrument daily, even if you practice for just a few minutes.”
Is that what you do?
>I can’t wait till they put out Viagra OTC.<
Speaking of the big “V”, I had to endure an awful lot of ribbing when my elderly dog was put on Viagra for Pulmonary artery hypertension, by the local veterinary school.
My veterinarian thought it was rather amusing, as did the majority of his staff (cringe). It did the job, though, and kept my old dog alive for a whole lot longer than she would have been otherwise.
No. Carnegie Hall is not my goal.
I’m not anti-medicine at all, but we have a friend who, when he took Zyrtec, became angry, incredibly irritable, unfocused, and withdrawn. His wife looked around on the internet & found a forum that had people describing what was happening to him, so she made him go back in to the doctor.
The doctor looked him over, told him to stop taking it, and mentioned that he was the second patient he’d had to take off Zyrtec for this reason in a short period of time.
Later, another friend mentioned that the same thing had happened to a lady we both know, but to a lesser degree. So I’ve known two people who have had issues with it.
I know it is supposed to work well doing what it does, but it seems to affect some people in negative ways.
Don’t over do it!
One of my old teachers told me I was told to practice guitar on the days that I eat.
“No. Carnegie Hall is not my goal.”
Darn...and I thought it would be nice to make sweet music together.
“One of my old teachers told me I was told to practice guitar on the days that I eat.”
LOL. Did you?
Are you at Malmstrom?
I read that this drug helps control itching.
That’s odd, usually antihistamines slow body function, drowsiness being one of the main side effects in adults.
But you’re indeed right, there are some people that have opposite reactions...my kids sometimes get drowsy with dimetapp other times they’re needing to be peeled off the ceiling on it!
Some adults get ativan to calm them but a select few get wound up even tighter. So we move to haldol.
And take ritalin, it’s given to help kids with ADHD and calm them, but I knew a man that took it because he had narcolepsy, it helped him function by speeding his brain up.
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