Can Over-the-Counter Drugs Be Prescription-Strength?
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Q. In my drugstore, I saw that 'prescription-strength' Flonase Allergy Relief is for sale without a prescription. What gives?
A. Flonase Allergy Relief (fluticasone propionate) is just one of many formerly prescription-only medications that are now sold over the counter. In fact, according to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, more than 700 current OTC drugs once required a prescription.
"Over the last five years, seven of the nine drugs that were switched from Rx to OTC were allowed to contain the exact strength as the prescription version," says Lisa Gill, deputy editor of Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs. OTC Flonase is one of them.
Editor's Note: This article also appeared in the September 2017 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
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