FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 345:810-816 September 13, 2001 Number 11 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text PDF Purchase this article Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

In the United States, consumers legally have access to drugs by two mechanisms: access with a prescription provided by a licensed health care professional or access without a prescription, by over-the-counter purchase. Many other countries have a similar classification of drugs. In addition, some countries have a third mechanism, by which certain sales without a prescription require consultation with a pharmacist or in which the marketing of certain drugs is limited to venues where such consultation is available. It was estimated that in 2000, consumers in the United States spent approximately $19.1 billion on over-the-counter drugs.¹ In recent years, more . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Regulatory Background

Evaluation of Drugs for Over-the-Counter Marketing

Effect on Health Care of Switches from Prescription-Only to Over-the-Counter Availability

Potential Benefits

            Increased Access to Effective Drugs

            Decreased Frequency of Visits to Physicians and Lower Health Care Costs

            Increases in Patients' Autonomy and Education

Areas of Concern

            Inaccurate Self-Diagnosis

            Delayed or Suboptimal Treatment of Serious Conditions

            Risks Associated with Inappropriate Drug Use

Redistribution of Health Care Costs

Diminished Role of Physicians in Supervising Care

Summary

Source Information

From the Department of Medicine, Center for Clinical Pharmacology, Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, Calif.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Brass at the Department of Medicine, Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, 1124 W. Carson St., Torrance, CA 90502, or at ebrass@ucla.edu.

References

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Oborne, C A., Luzac, M. L (2005). Over-the-Counter Medicine Use Prior to and During Hospitalization. The Annals of Pharmacotherapy 39: 268-273 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Shi, C.-W., Asch, S. M., Fielder, E., Gelberg, L., Nichol, M. B. (2004). Consumer Knowledge of Over-the-Counter Phenazopyridine. Ann Fam Med 2: 240-244 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Nair, K. V, Sullivan, P. W (2004). Therapeutic and Economic Consequences of OTC Loratadine. The Annals of Pharmacotherapy 38: 169-171 [Full Text]  
• Shiffman, S, Hughes, J R, Pillitteri, J L, Burton, S L (2003). Persistent use of nicotine replacement therapy: an analysis of actual purchase patterns in a population based sample. Tobacco Control 12: 310-316 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Reynolds, T. (2002). Switching from Prescription to over the Counter. ANN INTERN MED 136: 177-180 [Full Text]