Editorial: FDA prescription drugs plan would empower you

When blockbuster prescription drug Claritin first went on sale over the counter in 2002, many allergy specialists and other doctors warned of dire consequences.

By Eileen Blass, USA TODAY

FDA proposal: Monday is the deadline for public comments on access to prescription drugs.

By Eileen Blass, USA TODAY

FDA proposal: Monday is the deadline for public comments on access to prescription drugs.

Fewer patients would go to doctors, they maintained, and people with more severe problems that might masquerade as simple allergies would go undiagnosed.

A decade later, Claritin is still on drugstore shelves, joined by many other medications that were once prescription-only, including other allergy pills and drugs used to treat acid reflux. The physicians' worst fears have proved unfounded. And millions of sufferers have easier, cheaper access to drugs when spring allergies or heartburn strike.

Now, some of the same naysayers are trying to derail a Food and Drug Administration proposal that could make more prescription-only drugs such as those to treat asthma, migraines, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol more accessible without visits to a doctor. Today is the deadline for public comments.

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Editorial: FDA prescription drugs plan would empower you