Claritin will now be OTC

[Lorix2]

For those of you who suffer miserably like I do year round due to allergies (mine are dust mites and cats), if you take Claritin, it will now be available on the shelf.

When I didn't have insurance, I was paying upwards of $70+ per month for this med. When I finally got insurance, my co-pay was $25.00, which was obviously more affordable.

I have a friend in Canada who mails Claritin to me from her local dept store for $11.99 per box, buy one get one free when they run a special.

I hope the cost in the USA will be less than $20.00 a box since I have to buy them every month.

This is great news for people who do not have insurance and coudn't afford to buy it otherwise.

Hope this news made someone else happy too!

 

[LvsTnk]

Yipee, when can we expect to see it at the stores? Thanks!!

 

[Lorix2]

you should start seeing it as early as next week!

Our local Wahlgreens told me Monday the 9th.

 

[Kermit]

I'm actually not looking forward to that. My copay is around $8/month, less if I order by mail. But I'm sure it will be great for those with higher copays and those without insurance at all, especially when a generic comes out.

 

[peachgirl]

We're on the other side of the fence. I take Claritin-D and have a $3 co-pay, so for me it was $150 worth of pills for $3. I wasn't happy at all to hear Claritin was going otc. It was going to cost me a bunch, plus with the prescription I get a 60 day supply. I take it every day, year round and I hated the idea of either shucking out a fortune all at once or constantly having to run to the drugstore! I called the pharmacy today to see if my prescription would be filled again and they told me that only Claritin was going otc, Claritin D remains a prescription only. I can see where you'd be happy if you don't have insurance, but I'm glad to hear C-D will still be prescription.


Kermit....Maybe you should check with your Dr. The pharmacy said that whoever makes it now has a prescription version called Clarinex that's basically the same medicine as Claritin. Looks like everybody can be happy!

 

[Kermit]

DH takes Clarinex, but it's never been studied during pregnancy, so I'm stuck with Claritin for about the next 2 months. I may switch to Clarinex after the baby is born. It's actually a smaller dose, so I'm going to ask my doctor if it would maybe be better concerning keeping my milk supply up.

 

[Doctor P]

The medical reporters in Chicago are expecting Claritin to be priced at around $1.00 per pill OTC. That would mean $30.00 for a month's supply, which is more than my non-generic co-pay of $25.00 (the HMO uses Allegra instead, which has not worked as well for me I don't think). They also said that most insurance companies will not allow Clarinex to be prescribed to get around the increased OTC cost compared to the Rx benefits many people have.

 

[Wonderlandmom]

I was not impressed when I read it was going OTC. It will cost us more now . DS takes it daily(DD on occasion). I like Allegra for me though. We may have to find something new for him. Luckily he has an allergy appt soon.

 

[Rajah]

I will like not having to get it specifically at our pharmacy -- so if the pharm isn't on the way, we can stop anywhere to get it.

But I'm also in the boat that it's going to cost more to get once it's OTC. I *think* my insurance will cover Clarinex instead, but I'm going to have to check that out. Thanks for reminding me!

 

[pumba]

and it didn't work to well.....then she went to Allegra...and because she had to take it on an empty stomach and could not have breakfast for one hour.....she didn't fare to well on it.....so she is on Zyrtec and it is the one that is doing good for her.......

 

[Serena]

I take Claritan D too.
It costs a lot, and once I get my divorce, I won't be able to use his insurance for it.

 

[judi]

My son and I are on Zyrtec and now the insurance is going to make us pay $40 copay for it, plus we have to get advance ok from insurance to be able to fill it. Claritin didn't work for us so this is going to be a pain in the wallet and a pain having to do the extra work to even be able to keep tak.ing the zyrtec. Im not real happy about the news.

 

[olena]

I saw where the shelves were ready at Wal-Mart last night. It looks like it will come in a box or bottle of 20 at $20. About $1 a pill. That's all I could gather from the shelf tags.

 

[paras4ri]

I'm a Claritin-D user, thanks for the info on it because I wondered if it too would be OTC.

 

[dmfuru]

According to Schering-Plough (Pharmacy company), Claritin-D will also be available over-the-counter.

 

[LvsTnk]

I asked the pharmacist which forms would be otc and he said the information he had recieved was that all of them would be available. He also added that he was actually waiting to see what would truely come in. They did have space available on the shelves for it too.

 

[hallie]

YAY!!!

 

[peachgirl]

Who knows, but I just picked up 2 prescriptions today from the pharmacy and they again confirmed that Claritin D is prescription only.

 

[browneyes]

I noticed they had signs throughout Walmart informing everyone it will now be OTC (even a couple of signs in the Ladies room ). I didn't see any on the shelf, nor did I see a price. Even though it's non-drowsy, that stuff knocks me on my butt. But it does help my sinuses/allergies.

 

[J&D]

Go here to sign up for free samples of Claritin. Click on special offers in the top right hand corner.

http://www.claritin.com/content.aspx