Re: Something interesting about Claritin

[Guest guest]

I take Claritin and have found it to be quite helpful but saw a local

tv news program the other night about Claritin and how the drug

companies try to rip off consumers. Very interesting. It seems that the

patent on Claritin is about to expire and by fall other companies will

be able to start offering it cheaper and maybe eventually OTC! To fight

the loss of millions of dollars in overpriced (IMHO) drug sales, the

company invented new " Clarinex " , which will, of course, be expensive.

They are encouraging the doctors to start giving out free samples to the

patients now on Claritin in order to get them used to taking the new

Clarinex so they can keep making big bucks when the free samples stop

and patients have to buy the prescription. They said they have already

got 60% of Claritin users to switch over. Nobody has shown that the new

drug is any better tho of course the company says it is.... They are

doing the same thing with Nexium I believe. Why can't the companies just

be honest and sell the products at a fair price...too much to ever hope

for, I guess. Sue