Over-the-counter Lipitor… diabetes drugs… maybe one of those bone-destroying osteoporosis meds?
It looks like Big Pharma’s dream of selling practically anything and everything OTC, in essence removing the “middleman” known as your doctor, may soon be coming true.
It’s called the “Rx-to-OTC switch,” and it’s already proven to be one of the worst maneuvers in Pharma Land… for us, that is.
For drugmakers, it’s one of the most profitable.
No more need to wine and dine docs, send them on fancy vacations, or deliver a giant flat-screen TV to the office. The only one drugmakers will be targeting is YOU, with ads running 24/7.
Why, you could be innocently strolling through Walmart looking for pet food… and wind up with one or more of these incredibly risky drugs in your basket.
And it’s especially bad news for anyone who isn’t in “the know” about just how much trouble they can get into by taking OTC meds.
Of course, being an eAlert reader means that you already know a lot more about the tricks of the drug trade than many others do!
Playing doctor
Of all the sneaky tricks in Big Pharma’s playbook, moving risky Rx drugs out from behind the pharmacy counter and putting them “in your face” is the most disastrous one of all.
And now, it’s hoping to pull that off with those highly hazardous cholesterol meds, something it actually tried – and failed at — before.
Back in 2015, Pfizer announced it would be dropping its plans to get Lipitor OTC after conducting years of research. The bottom line, as the drugmaker announced three years ago, was that it found that patients couldn’t be counted on to “take the drug correctly without a doctor’s help.”
No kidding!
Actually, I can’t even say that Lipitor or any other statin is safe to take with a doctor’s help. So, can you imagine the potential risks involved in such a free-for-all?
But that was then.
Now, with pharma shill Scott Gottlieb at the FDA’s helm, this ill-fated plan is being resurrected from the scrap heap of terrible ideas.
In a press conference last week, Gottlieb announced that “select types of drugs” would be perfect for this concept. He even called out cholesterol-lowering meds as one kind in particular that could work. And get this: To make sure these drugs were taken correctly, “digital health technologies” such as phone apps and online programs could be used to make sure we’re doing a good job of playing doctor!
Gottlieb called the “draft guidance” that was just put out by the agency as the “first step” in moving this into reality.
Yikes!
I didn’t think it was possible for the FDA to bend any further backward to help drugmakers rake in the billions. This, however, is about as low as our federal health “protection” agency can go!
But, of course, it wouldn’t be the first time that originally prescription-only pharmaceuticals made this risky leap.
Other highly dangerous meds, including the allergy spray Flonase and ones known as proton pump inhibitors (such as Prilosec and Nexium), blazed a trail of trouble when they jumped the pharmacy counter.
Take Flonase, for example.
If you were to visit your doctor and get a prescription for this drug, you would likely learn from your doc or pharmacist that its use is linked to cataracts and glaucoma. In fact, that warning is prominently featured on the Rx-version label. It says that “close monitoring” is needed for these vision stealers.
Pick up a bottle of OTC Flonase at the supermarket, however, and if you can manage to peel open the “drug facts” on the packaging, all that tiny print says is to ask your doctor if you “have or had glaucoma or cataracts.”
Not quite the same, is it?
When those acid-suppressing meds known as PPIs went OTC, certain important warnings also disappeared — ones about the little matter of upping your risk of hip, wrist, and spine fractures.
These drugs didn’t get any safer – they just got easier to buy.
And the same thing will be coming down the pike for all kinds of other meds. Soon, Lipitor may be sitting right next to the breath mints.
Despite everything we know about the dangers of drugs, OTC ones still seem somehow safer. Why else would they be right there on the shelf for anyone to pick up? But that’s exactly what Big Pharma wants you to believe.
And the more meds that are allowed to make this stealthy switch, the more careful you’re going to have to be when you go looking for an easy way to relieve pain or some other symptom.
Just remember: Regardless of whether they take a doctor’s visit or just a trip to the corner convenience store, there’s nothing safe or simple about pharmaceuticals.
“Feds plan to make more drugs available without prescription” William Gibson, July 18, 2018, AARP, aarp.org
