The Food and Drug Administration may establish a "behind the counter" system allowing more drugs that currently require a prescription to be sold without one.
In a notice set to be published in today's Federal Register, the agency announced a Nov. 14 hearing to explore "the public health benefit of drugs being available without a prescription but only after intervention by a pharmacist."
Such intervention could require a pharmacist to make sure a patient meets certain criteria to get a particular drug and to instruct the patient how to properly use it.
Wall Street Journal October 4, 2007