INGREDIENTS IN COLD MEDICINES REPLACED

Pharmaceutical companies increasingly are replacing cold medications
containing pseudoephedrine with reformulated products in an effort to
keep their remedies on store shelves for the current cold and flu
season. State and local lawmakers in the past two years have begun
restricting sales of over-the-counter drugs containing
pseudoephedrine, a popular nasal decongestant, because the ingredient
can be used to make the illegal narcotic methamphetamine. In
response, Procter & Gamble Co. in November started selling a
reformulated version of its Vicks NyQuil syrup and DayQuil and NyQuil
liquid caps, replacing pseudoephedrine with acetaminophen and
dextromethorphan. The Cincinnati consumer-products company plans to
phase out pseudoephedrine from its cold medicines by 2007, said
spokesman Ashoke Mitra, who would not disclose any sales numbers. "We
still believe pseudoephedrine is a safe product," he said. McNeil
Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, a division of New Brunswick,
N.J., health products company Johnson & Johnson, is reformulating its
Tylenol Cold & Flu products. The company for the past year has been
eliminating pseudoephedrine for "a wide variety of ingredients," said
spokeswoman Kathy Fallon. She would not say whether sales of
pseudoephedrine cold medicines have been affected this flu season. No
date is set for when the reformulated products will reach store
shelves, she said. So far, at least 37 states have restricted
consumer access to the medications, which has included putting them
behind pharmacy or customer service counters at stores, according to
the National Conference of State Legislatures. Additionally,
retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., CVS Corp., Rite
Aid Corp., Giant Food LLC and Safeway Inc., have begun limiting
access to or have removed them. New York drug giant Pfizer Inc. in
February introduced a newer version of its Sudafed cold medicine,
called Sudafed PE, which substituted pseudoephedrine with
phenylephrine. "Our intention in launching it was to have an
alternative available for consumers," said spokeswoman Erica Johnson,
adding that the industry early last year sensed sales of
pseudoephedrine products would be restricted.

Phenylephrine, a precursor to pseudoephedrine, probably will be the
big ingredient for the cold-and-flu drug market this season, said Amy
Kasza, an industry writer and researcher for Hamacher Resource Group
LLC, a Milwaukee consulting firm for the retail health care market.
"I don't think you will find a big public outcry in the change, but
that remains to be seen," Mrs. Kasza said. But Wyeth Consumer
Healthcare, a division of Madison, N.J., drug company Wyeth, is not
certain whether it will replace the pseudoephedrine in its Robitussin
and Dimetapp products, said spokesman Francis Sullivan. "We are not
sure if or when we are going to switch to phenylephrine," he said.
"That's what everyone is obviously switching to." Wyeth currently
sells the pseudoephedrine versions of its cold medications and other
forms that contain ingredients such as dextromethorphan or acetaminophen.