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 Does your over-the-counter medication contain the active ingredient you’d expect it to contain? Check again. Many manufactures are using certain popular brand names to market products that don’t necessarily contain the generic drug you’d expect it to contain. For example, Claritin tablets contain the generic antihistamine loratadine. If you’ve taken Claritin before and liked how it worked for you, you may be tempted to try the Claritin eye drops for itchy eyes. You’d naturally expect the Claritin eye drops to contain loratadine, just like the tablets, however, if you look closely at the label, you’ll find Claritin eye drops contain ketotifen. Ketotifen is actually the same active ingredient found in over-the-counter Alaway and Zaditor, two other brand name antihistamines.
The practice of using a brand name to sell a different active ingredient is perfectly legal, however, it may be confusing to consumers. In fact there are numerous examples of over-the-counter drugs that use a brand name to sell the product, when they contain other ingredients that are not expected. People in medical circles call this ‘Brand name extensions’.
When picking up a new over-the-counter remedy for the first time, it may be a good idea to check with your pharmacist to make sure the product contains the generic you are expecting it to contain. For a list of misleading brand name over-the-counter products, visit our website at http://www.empoweredmedicine.com/content/view/359/103
Author: Christi Larson, Pharm. D.
Dr. Larson is a pharmacist, author of Empowered Medicine; A Guide for Consumers and creator of Empowered Medicine. You can read more about her by visiting www.EmpoweredMedicine.com and clicking on the 'About Us' tab. EmpoweredMedicine.com is committed to providing evidence-based medical information from a pharmacist's point of view.
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