A US advisory panel on June 21 urged approval for Procter & Gamble Co.'s bid to sell AstraZeneca wildly popular drug Prilosec without a prescription.
The recommendation now goes to the US Food and Drug Administration, which usually follows its panels' advice. Prilosec, marketed as the "purple pill," is one of the world's best-selling medicines.
If approved, Prilosec would be the first of a group of acid-blocking drugs known as proton pump inhibitors to be available over the counter.
Procter & Gamble, which owns the rights to an OTC form of Prilosec, wants to market the nonprescription version for preventing frequent bouts of heartburn, defined as occurring two or more days per week.
About 40 million Americans experience frequent heartburn. Procter & Gamble predicts annual US sales of between $200 million and $400 million for nonprescription Prilosec.
Proposed directions for nonprescription Prilosec would urge people to take one tablet daily, in the morning, for 14 days to prevent frequent heartburn.
Reuters Maryland June 21, 2002
In some ways it is wonderful to see these drugs go OTC because that will lower the price for people who might need this drug.
Folks, I can assure you the number of people who actually need this drug is less than 1 in 100 of those taking it. In other words, people are being prescribed drugs for heartburn when it is one of the easiest medical problems to treat. Most people ignore heartburn as an important clue from their body and rely on a drug to further suppress the symptoms.
This is the equivalent of driving your car and ignoring the idiot light that comes on your dashboard warning you of a problem. Using a band-aid like Prilosec to cover the light allows you to ignore the problem and although it may solve the problem in the short-term, the implications for ignoring this important clue are quite obvious as you could be looking far more costly repairs by not acknowledging the symptom.
So what is the solution for heartburn?
There are several key points:
1. Drink adequate amounts of clean water. 2. Follow the eating plan being careful to avoid sugar. 3. Use 1-2 cloves of raw fresh garlic per day to eradicate H. pylori which is a factor for many with heartburn. 4. Use a high quality probiotics.
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