Q. In my drugstore, I saw that 'prescription-strength' Flonase Allergy Relief is for sale without a prescription. What gives?
A. Flonase Allergy Relief (fluticasone propionate) is just one of many formerly prescription-only medications that are now sold over the counter. In fact, according to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, more than 700 current OTC drugs once required a prescription.
"Over the last five years, seven of the nine drugs that were switched from Rx to OTC were allowed to contain the exact strength as the prescription version," says Lisa Gill, deputy editor of Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs. OTC Flonase is one of them.
When a drug manufacturer applies to make a prescription drug available OTC, it must prove to the Food and Drug Administration that the drug can be safely self-administered when following the instruction label—without medical oversight. The FDA considers whether the prescription-strength dose is habit forming or toxic. In those cases, the FDA may require that the OTC formulation be a lower dose than the prescription version. By touting "prescription strength," drug manufacturers like the one that makes Flonase are telling you the dosage is unaltered.
Editor's Note: This article also appeared in the September 2017 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.