title: OTC cold, cough and allergy products: more choice or more confusion?
abstract: Cold and allergy remedies are one of the most confusing markets to consumers. There are several reasons why there is confusion among consumers when forced to select a cough/cold/allergy product. This paper examines the over-the-counter cold/cough/allergy products market specifically with respect to: (1) What are the common pharmaceutical active ingredients in cold/cough/allergy products? (2) What percentage of products are single ingredient, two ingredient, three ingredient or more? (3) What are the common combinations of pharmaceutical ingredients present in cold/cough/allergy products? The answers to the above questions could help health professionals such as pharmacists in rendering services such as counseling consumers when approached with questions about cold/cough/allergy products. The results could also help retailers in developing better shelf placement and positioning of cold/cough/allergy products.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, St. John's University, Jamaica, NY 11439, USA. agrawalm@stjohns.edu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agrawal
mesh_terms: D003139:Common Cold / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003256:Community Participation; D003371:Cough / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003625:Data Collection; D003657:Decision Making; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D004366:Nonprescription Drugs