FDA Mulls Expanding Patients' Access to Certain Drugs

Agency is in 2 days of hearings on whether some prescription meds shift to 'conditional' OTC status

March 22, 2012 RSS Feed Print

"While the increased availability of certain prescription-based antidotes, such as Epi-Pens [which administer adrenaline for severe allergic reaction], appear to have few if any safety concerns, the FDA has not offered evidence that patients with hypertension [high blood pressure], hyperlipidemia [high cholesterol], asthma or migraine headaches can self-diagnose and manage these serious chronic medical conditions safely on their own," Fryhofer stated.

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more on prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs.