THOUGH THE Food and Drug Administration is likely to reject Merck & Company Inc.'s request to offer an over-the-counter version of its prescription cholesterol drug Mevacor(lovastatin)later this month,industry experts believe OTC statins will eventually make their way onto the US market.If so,they may blaze a path for the regulatory acceptance of switches in other classes of drugs as well.An FDA advisory committee last month recommended against an OTC switch for Mevacor,citing a laundry list of issues that it suggested Merck still needed to address before the drug could safely put on the market.
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