Nasacort Steroid Nasal Spray to be Available Over-The-Counter!

Sanofi announced today that the FDA has approved Nasacort steroid nasal spray to be made available over-the-counter (OTC) starting sometime spring 2014.

Nasacort is a steroid nasal spray used to treat allergies in patients start from the age of 2 years old. It will also be the very first steroid nasal spray made OTC in the United States which can be both a blessing as well as a curse.

Why?

With Nasacort going OTC which will certainly make it more convenient for patients, I also anticipate that the other prescription steroid nasal sprays including nasonex, qnasl, zetonna, veramyst, etc will become much harder to prescribe due to insurance requiring patients to use OTC Nasacort first. Worst case, insurance may even simply stop paying for the prescription steroid nasal sprays.

After all, this is exactly what happened with prescription reflux and anti-histamine medications.

Source:
FDA Approves Sanofi's Nasacort(R) Allergy 24HR for Over-the-Counter Use. Wall Street Journal 10/11/13