Breathing OTC life into asthma

Asthma has been becoming more relevant in the nonprescription aisles of late. Even as Armstrong Pharmaceuticals phases out what was an almost $100 million-and-growing brand in Primatene Mist 
— the Food and Drug Administration has removed any inhalers containing 
chlorofluorocarbons from the market — homeopathic supplier King Bio is currently presenting an alternative in its AsthmaCare product.


And IMSHealth in the fall launched the site Azma.com — an asthma-related site where content has been organized into three distinct categories by demographics and features a four-day forecast on air quality and potential asthma triggers by zip code. IMSHealth, which also manages pollen.com, is in the beginning stages of marketing its asthma site.


Asthma is already relevant for patients — 7 million children and 18.7 million adults have asthma. And asthma is the primary diagnosis for as many as 17 million annual visits to a healthcare professional on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


There is even a seasonality associated with asthma that mirrors allergy season. “There is a very strong co-morbidity between allergy and asthma,” Scott Hanslip, director of sales at IMS Consumer Health told DSN. “In particular, you’re talking about a 30% base that suffers from both fronts, particularly for kids.”

The article above is part of the DSN Category Review Series. For the complete Cough-Cold & Allergy Buy-In Report, including extensive charts, data and more analysis, click here.