NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted to recommend Schering-Plough's allergy drug Claritin be sold over the counter for the treatment of chronic hives.
The decision brings Schering-Plough (SGP: Research, Estimates) one step closer to offering its blockbuster drug without a prescription. While not bound to follow advisory panel recommendations, the FDA usually does.
It is also another in a series of moves by the drugmaker to get the most out of Claritin before it loses patent protection, according to analysts.
Claritin has sales of $3 billion last year and accounted for a third of Schering-Plough's revenues.
The patent for the Claritin compound is set to expire in December and companies have already filed applications to sell a generic version. But Schering-Plough is trying to keep its patent for another two years and that legal battle is still going on.
At the same time Schering is trying to get customers to switch to its next-generation allergy medication Clarinex.
Schering opposed over-the-counter Claritin last year when WellPoint Health Networks filed a petition to have the drug sold without a prescription. But the drugmaker switched its position last March and filed to have all versions of Claritin sold over the counter to treat allergies and hives.
Mike Krensavage, analyst with Raymond James, said it's possible Schering is trying to get people to switch to Clarinex by essentially pulling Claritin from the prescription market.
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"People who are used to getting a prescription for allergy drugs would get Clarinex (rather than Claritin)," Krensavage said.
He said it is also possible Schering may see less initial competition in the over-the-counter market, but added it is a "very, very complex legal situation."
A spokesman for Schering-Plough said the company would not market Claritin over the counter just to treat chronic hives, but would wait to market it to treat both nasal allergies and hives.
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