HEALTH

CINCINNATI — Comedian Larry the Cable Guy has teamed up with Prilosec OTC to show racing fans that “You Can’t Beat Zero” by offering them great “Zero Experiences” at two top stock car races and a chance at winning Prilosec OTC’s hottest wheels: a “monster” utility vehicle.

FERNDALE, Mich. — Ferndale Healthcare recently announced a three-year partnership on behalf of its RectiCare (lidocaine 5%) Anorectal Cream brand and the Colon Cancer Alliance. This nonprofit corporation is the nation’s leading patient advocacy organization dedicated to increasing colon cancer screening rates and survivorship.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Senate on Tuesday voted 25-to-9 to make pseudoephedrine a Schedule IV prescription drug and exempt medicines that can’t easily be diverted to methamphetamine, according to published reports. A similar bill is being considered by the West Virginia House of Delegates.

According to reports, the two exceptions to the prescription-only requirement would include Acura Pharmaceuticals' Nexafed and Westport Pharmaceuticals' Zephrex-D. 

NEW YORK — The Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program on Tuesday recommended that truDERMA discontinue certain claims for the company’s Troxyphen dietary supplement, including claims that the product is “safe and clinically researched.”

As support for the performance and establishment claims at issue, the marketer submitted testing on its key ingredient. After reviewing the evidence, ERSP concluded that truDERMA provided a reasonable basis for claims relating to an “increased sex drive.”

This year, ECRM celebrates 20 years of successfully pairing buyers and sellers across the consumer packaged goods industry. As part of that celebration, and in correlation to the ECRM Cough-Cold, Analgesics and Allergy event, DSN editors thought it’d be a good idea to look back through the last 20 years of the cough-cold business at retail.

Prevention. That’s currently one of the predominant themes in cough-cold. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times. With the economy still undergoing a slow recovery, 90% of workers recently reported they would opt to report to work sick vs. calling out, according to the fourth annual Flu Season Survey from Staples.

NEW YORK — Another nighttime remedy that historically has performed well is Procter & Gamble’s combo pack of Vicks Nyquil and Vicks Dayquil. Sales of the combo liquids were up 94.2% to $39 million, and sales of its tablet combo pack were up 16% to $45.7 million. Vicks combination packs may soon get another lift from the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Russia, of which P&G is one of the corporate sponsors. The Vicks Nyquil/Dayquil brands tapped U.S. Alpine skier Ted Ligety as a spokesman this season.

The one-time $100 million asthma-relief brand Primatene may make a comeback to the marketplace after a more than two-year hiatus. Primatene Mist had been withdrawn from the market in December 2011 when the agency removed all inhalers containing chlorofluorocarbons from the market.