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Heartburn sufferers soon will be able to buy the popular remedy
Prilosec without a prescription.
The U.S.
Food and Drug Administration approved an over-the-counter
version of Prilosec that will cost less than $1 a day, a third
the price of the prescription pill, according to distributor
Procter & Gamble.
Prilosec
OTC will be the only type of nonprescription heartburn remedy
approved to treat frequent heartburn. Other nonprescription
remedies -- such as Pepcid, Zantac and Tagamet -- are to treat
occasional heartburn or to prevent meal-induced heartburn.
Frequent
heartburn is usually caused by "gastroesophageal reflux
disease," or GERD, where a loose valve allows stomach
acid to back up into the esophagus.
For
treating more serious stomach ailments such as ulcers, the
original Prilosec still will be sold by prescription -- but
in the same dose as Prilosec OTC.
Prilosec
OTC, a "proton pump inhibitor," takes a few days
to start blocking acid secretions by turning off some of the
mini-pumps in the stomach.
"It
is not effective for immediate relief, it is not effective
for using it right before a meal," according to FDA nonprescription
drugs chief Dr. Charles Ganley. "But if is effective
if you start taking it for a 14-day course."
Prilosec
OTC will come in 14-pill packages. People who recently started
suffering frequent heartburn should try one 14-day course
of treatment, and should take no more than three 14-day courses
a year, according to the FDA..
Source:
Medical Week staff,
week of June 22,2003
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