Claritin will be sold over the counter starting in December 2003. 
There are at least two manufacturers which have decided to produce a
generic version of the drug.  How much will the average
over-the-counter shelf price be for Claritin next year?  How much are
the generic companies planning to charge?  Will the generics be
over-the-counter as well or will they be prescription?  Also, will all
versions of Claritin be available over the counter.  Thanks for the
help in budgeting for next year's medical costs.

Greetings hmiller96,

Working in the healthcare industry, I found your question an
intriguing one. I did quite a bit of research on all of the questions
you have regarding Claritin and the upcoming OTC versions along with
generic formats.

I want to begin by saying that some of the data you seek is just
simply not available yet - specifically the *exact* amount that
companies (Schering-Plough or others) will be charging for
over-the-counter versions of Claritin when it's made available late
next year. With the economy moving up and down, there's little chance
that any price quoted right now would hold until the final product
release. I did, however, find a few sources that gave their best
"estimate" of how much the OTC versions will cost based on past
RX-to-OTC transitions and expert opinions.

According to an article at the Wall Street Journal, "a month's supply
of generic Claritin will cost only about $9, says Richard Evans, an
analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein." I found another article that
states "When an over-the-counter version of Claritin is approved, the
cost of a 30-day supply, now about $80 as a prescription medicine,
could be as little as $15, said Steve Francesco, a consultant who
advises companies on switching products from prescription to
nonprescription status." So, as you can see, both of these sources
seem to believe that a month's supply of Claritin will fall in the
range of $9 to $15. I haven't found any sources that mention the
competing generic OTC forms of Claritin and their pricing structure,
however they usually are not far off when it comes to OTC pricing. I
wouldn't expect to see a major percentage in price difference between
the different OTC forms of Loratadine.

To answer your other question, other drug companies will be producing
(or at least have petitioned to) both RX and OTC forms of generic
Loratadine. I found a few websites that actually show generic forms of
Claritin for sale now in RX form. Johnson & Johnson and Wyeth will
make OTC forms while Andrx, Mylan and Wyeth will market RX forms.

According to a Schering Laboratories press release, ALL forms of
Claritin will be released in OTC format, not just the single pill
form. I would expect to see the Redi-Tabs, Claritin-D, Claritin-D24
and all other formats according to the article. This is a big reason
for Schering-Plough's recent push for their Claritin replacement,
Clarinex. Since they can't market Claritin in different formats or
strengths for RX only, they had to release a new drug altogether.

I hope this helps to answer your questions. Please find all of the
links below that I referenced in my answer. Please don't hesitate to
ask for clarification if you need additional assistance.

Sincerely,
PWizard

Wall Street Journal Articles
http://www.chelationtherapyonline.com/technical/p14.htm

MediFAX Marketing & Media Newsletter
http://www.cpsnet.com/Pubs/mf20020809.pdf

Article: "A Drug Will Cost Less. For Whom?"
http://senrs.com/a_drug_will_cost_less_for_whom.htm

Schering Labs Press Release
http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/ID/3454

Thanks for the help.  The price range is very helpful.  I figured that
some of the information might not be completely defined yet.  I guess
we'll all wait and see.