FDA to hold hearings on pediatric OTC medicines

ROCKVILLE, Md. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday posted notice for a public hearing to be held Oct. 2 to discuss again the use of over-the-counter medications in pediatric populations.

That’s good news for suppliers and retailers in the cough/cold space, as it lifts any consternation that an FDA decision on whether or not cough/cold medicines are appropriate for children under the age of six is imminent. Many category managers were concerned that if the FDA were leaning toward possibly pulling cough/cold products marketed for use in children under the age of six, that the agency may decide to announced that decision just as new cough/cold planograms for the 2008/2009 season were to be implemented in September.

And while the FDA can take many months to make a decision on an issue around which they’ve requested public input, last year’s decision to officially ban marketing cough/cold products to children under the age of two came in January 2008, just as the cough/cold season was beginning to take off, following the initial Citizen’s Petition hearing in mid-October 2007.

The public hearing is to be held at the Sheraton Washington North Hotel in Beltsville, Md., from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.