"Coming soon"

Industry teaser promotions at American Society of Hospital Pharmacists mid-year meeting and exhibit included 3M's Maxair pirbuterol acetate autohaler. The asthma drug, approved Nov. 30, was developed with Boehringer Ingelheim. Maxair will be marketed by 3M in 1993 as the only breath-activated, pressurized metered- dose inhaler. Other "coming soon" promotions included Rhone- Poulenc Rorer's low molecular weight heparin injection Lovenox (enoxaparin), which has been "approvable" at FDA since Nov. 20; Wallace Labs' felbamate anticonvulsant, which goes before an advisory committee Dec. 14; an unnamed Schwarz Pharma cardiovascular drug -- the company has an NDA pending for Monoket ISMO tablets for angina; Marion Merrell Dow's Targocid (teicoplanin) once-daily injectable antibiotic for gram-positive infections; and Lederle's beta lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor Tazosyn (piperacillin/tazobactam) for severe hospital infections.