Switch consultant Susan Levy suggests drug firms temper enthusiasm for Rx-to-OTC switches with considering the costs NDAs generate and the histories of switches that haven’t been successes.

Prestige Consumer boosted marketing spending 17% in its latest quarter to $40.2m with strategies including viral videos and adding messages to branded e-commerce pages to attract online shoppers. Consumer purchases of products rose 7% in the January-March period.

Prestige Consumer Healthcare’s Hydralyte sales grew in excess of 20% fiscal year-to-date in key market Australia, reflecting PCH’s work to expand the brand’s appeal from a vomiting and diarrhea treatment to a sports and general hydration drink. Hydralyte is PCH’s biggest brand in Australia where the name is “synonymous with oral hydration,” company leadership says.

HBW Insight introduces an ongoing feature with information on decisions by FDA on NDAs and ANDA for nonprescription drugs and on sNDAs for label and package changes for approved OTC products. Dr Reddys Laboratories' clearance to launch OTC nicotine replacement therapy lozenges in the US and revisions to Prilosec OTC and Monistat packaging were among FDA's s OTC-related decisions in January.