Pharma Blog Watch

GSK Allergy Spray (BrandweekNRX)
In his entry, Jim Edwards writes about GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) announcement this week of new data on its intranasal fluticasone furoate allergy spray. "Unless this spray does something super-amazing that's not yet been reported, I predict that GSK's Allermist allergy brand (which regulators apparently want to see renamed for the U.S.) will not be too much of a threat to the dominance of Schering-Plough's Claritin brands," he writes. "Why? Anyone with hay fever will tell you: Sticking something up your nose, no matter how effective, is just plain weird."

"Bottom line: as long as there are effective, side-effect-free pills like Claritin and its generics, hay fever sufferers won' be switching to nasal sprays anytime soon."