OTC anti-cholesterol drugs?
The NYT is reporting that a Merck-Johnson & Johnson joint venture has applied to make Mevacor (lovastatin), an older anti-cholesterol drug, available over-the-counter.
The timing on this is somewhat interesting to me, since I just today went to get blood work done to check on how I’m doing on lovastatin, and to pick up a new prescription for the same dosage level they’re considering making the OTC dose.
One of the concerns is that both the condition being treated (high cholesterol) and a potential side effect (liver breakdown) can only be monitored by periodic blood tests, which makes it kind of hard to see how taking it OTC will allow patients to tell if it’s helping, or hurting.
I also have the selfish concern that the price I pay would probably go up; my co-pay for a generic drug, which lovastatin now is, is quite a bit lower than the price of a 30-day supply is likely to be if it does go OTC.
The FDA voted against OTC for Mevacor (as well as Pravachol) in 2000, so we’ll see what happens this time around.
