GSK commits to investing behind OTC and oral health brands in India after offloading nutrition assets to Unilever.

Hypera is offloading a basket of brands it recently acquired from Takeda which are sold primarily in Mexico to São Paulo-based Eurofarma. 

Stada has taken the lead in the Russian OTC market and is implementing a turnaround plan in the country to take the business to the next level. 

Pain relief product sales grew 27% and upper respiratory sales 35% for the week ended 7 March as consumers respond to COVID-19, according to Nielsen data noted in a Jefferies report on consumer health purchasing trends. Private label market share is up slightly, while OTC purchases continue primarily in conventional stores.

FDA made request after finding unacceptable levels of nitrosamine NDMA can form during storage above room temperature or beyond expiry. Forthcoming guidance on detecting impurities like nitrosamines in any drug will call for routine testing as well as a chemical risk assessment “to look at what is the probability of generating them.

Dow Chemical, Anheuser-Busch and Kodak designate manufacturing for hand sanitizers and donate products to fight COVID-19. Dow is making up to 15 tons of sanitizer a day while Kodak donates formulas to New York's “NYS Clean” sanitizer distribution program.

Italy's Recordati enjoyed strong growth in its home market and abroad, lifting OTC group sales in 2019.

Reckitt Benckiser's new CEO Laxman Narasimhan has unveiled a turnaround plan which will see the company's OTC drugs and dietary supplements housed in a separate business to its infant nutrition products. RB is investing £2bn to get back on track after a couple of difficult years.

OTC private label giant said gaining another grocery chain as an infant formula customer was a key sales driver in the 2019 Q4, with nutrition sales up 21% to account for 17% of Americas consumer health sales growth. The firm plans to re-enter the broader VMS space, but infant formula helped its global consumer health net sales reach $1.1bn in the October-December period.

Leading chemical firms, beauty and consumer health companies, even distilleries and medical marijuana cultivators are adapting operations to meet global demand for hand sanitizers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, plaintiff’s attorneys are busy with multiple class actions against Purell manufacturer GOJO Industries for alleged false advertising following a January warning letter to the firm from the US FDA.

An FTC member doubts NeuroMetrix crossed all FDA regulatory lines in advertising for Quell wearable pain relief technology that attorneys alleged. FDA warning letter says Zona Health executives said they “would ‘remain in all regulatory guidelines’" when the agency in 2018 explained claims violations.

Q4 sales in OTC allergy/cold segment, which includes the Claritin allergy and Afrin nasal congestion lines, grew 5% adjusted while dermatology sector with Bepanthen and Canesten skin care brands grew 3.8%. Adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange and portfolio changes, thouhg, consumer unit’s full-year sales were flat.