DECONGESTANTS GET MAKEOVER TO KEEP THEM OVER THE COUNTER

WASHINGTON -- With a federal law requiring certain over-the-counter
decongestants to be moved behind store counters by the end of
September, many drug makers have or will be reformulating products to
keep them easily accessible to consumers.

While at least 37 states have laws on the books that place
restrictions on how much and where medicines containing the
ingredient pseudoephedrine are sold, as of April 8, the federal law
sets nationwide limits. In large amounts, pseudoephedrine can be used
to make the illegal drug methamphetamine.

The federal law limits consumers to buying no more than 3.6 grams of
pseudoephedrine products per day -- or about 120 pills of a typical
decongestant like Pfizer Inc.'s Sudafed -- or 9 grams a month. By
Sept. 30, the law will require pseudoephedrine products to be moved
behind a pharmacy or retail service counter or locked display case.
Retailers will be required to ask customers to show photo
identification and sign a log book that documents what they bought
and when. In states that have stricter laws, those laws will apply.
Oregon, for example, will require a prescription for pseudoephedrine
products as of July 1.

Pseudoephedrine acts as a decongestant and is designed to reduce
sinus pressure and nasal secretions. Until recently, it was used as a
decongestant in some 200 types of cold or allergy products.

However, most of the makers of decongestants and combination cold and
cough products that contain pseudoephedrine are in the process of
replacing it with another decongestant, phenylephrine, which can't be
used to make methamphetamine. Decongestants containing phenylephrine
can be sold over the counter. Some products are already available
with several more coming out before the Sept. 30 deadline.

"We anticipate there will only be about 25 to 30 products with
pseudoephedrine left," said Mike DeAngelis, a spokesman for the
drug-store chain CVS Corp.

Several major retailers like Target Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc.,
Walgreen Co. and Rite Aid Corp. had already moved the products behind
store counters on a nationwide basis, and many retailers already ask
for photo identification.

"Any time you move things behind the counter there's a drop in
sales," said Francis Sullivan, a spokesman for Wyeth's Consumer
Healthcare. Wyeth makes Robitussin cough syrups and Advil products.

He said the company is in the process of replacing pseudoephedrine in
most of its products in time to begin shipping cold and cough
products to retailers in August. The only exception is some Advil
products because changes to them require approval from the Food and
Drug Administration.

Michael Beckerich, a spokesman for the Johnson & Johnson unit that
makes Tylenol and Motrin cold and allergy products, said about eight
products have been reformulated, with several more on the way. He
said the company will continue making a few products with
pseudoephedrine in it.

Mr. Sullivan said Wyeth noticed more product returns from retailers
than usual at the end of this year's cold season, which the company
suspects is because of products being moved behind the counter where
a typical retailer has less space. For example, grocery-store chain
Safeway Inc. said it has cut the number of products it offers
containing pseudoephedrine to 17 from about 75 a year ago.

Pfizer started selling a new version of Sudafed last year called
Sudafed PE, as it contains phenylephrine. But the company still will
keep making its traditional Sudafed with pseudoephedrine. Pfizer
spokeswoman Erica Johnson said most other pseudoephedrine-containing
products, such as certain lines of Benadryl, have been or are in the
process of being replaced with phenylephrine.

Phenylephrine doesn't last as long as pseudoephedrine, which is why
some drug makers aren't reformulating all products. Traditional
Sudafed is taken every four to six hours, while it is recommended
that Sudafed PE be taken every four hours.

Indeed, Julie Lux, a spokeswoman for Schering-Plough Corp., said so
far the company isn't reformulating its pseudoephedrine products. Two
such products, Claritin-D 12-hour and 24-hour, need to be made with
pseudoephedrine in order to be effective for the entire time.

Ashoke Mitra, a Procter & Gamble Co. spokesman, said the company
simply took out pseudoephedrine from its NyQuil cold product rather
than replace it with another decongestant. "We don't want consumers
to have to go behind the counter and sign it out," Mr. Mitra said.