From: Titus, Sandra L
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 4:24 PM
To: Butler, Jennie C
Subject: FW: Over the Counter Allergy Medications

Please place in the May 11 NDAC- PADAC docket

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Martin [mailto:martinr@njc.org]
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 4:17 PM
To: Sandra Tituss
Subject: Over the Counter Allergy Medications


To whom it concerns:
I have great concerns about the possibility of certain allergy  medications
(Claritin, Allegra, and Zyrtec) becoming available without a prescription
for the following reasons:
1.      Asthma is commonly undiagnosed until patients come in for their
 allergies.  This is very important as many studies have shown that early
intervention in the treatment of asthma will prevent the loss of lung
function
2.  Products that are sedating (i.e. Benadryl) will be less costly and
 therefore patients may opt to take those, never really utilizing the
 superior non-sedating medications
3.  Costs to the patient and to all in general may not be lower if asthma
and other associated problems are not diagnosed and treated.
Richard J. Martin, M.D.