By Kyle Lentz

For many people, the transition from winter to spring is a joyous occasion. For others, it’s the start of three months of agony with sneezing; coughing; itchy, watery eyes; sinus pain; runny nose or unbearable congestion. Yes, it’s “allergy season” again folks, so bear down as your coworker stuffs tissue up her nose to stop its incessant running.

There are several new items this year to help your coworker treat her miserable condition. Chattem, the marketers of Allegra^®, has introduced Nasacort^® Allergy 24 Hour Nasal Spray. This Rx-to-OTC switch is the first intra nasal steroid (corticosteroid) available without a prescription and can already be found on your independent pharmacy shelves.

Reckitt-Benckiser has also added an allergy tablet to its line of cough & cold products. Non-Drowsy Mucinex^® Allergy has fexofenadine hydrochloride as its active ingredient. This 24-hour product helps provide relief for both indoor and outdoor allergies.

Also, look for offerings coming down the pipeline late July and August. These new items will compete directly with Claritin^® and Benadryl^® as they contain the same active ingredients.

HRG has recommended that these new items be added to your cold & allergy departments as soon as they become available from your wholesaler of choice. Also, we recommend adding signage to the shelves explaining the differences between the various active ingredients found in allergy relief products.  Doing so may help your customers avoid any unwitting side effects from their allergy medication.

Allergy season? It’s nothing to sneeze at.

Kyle is a category analyst for our core TEMPS program, and a member of our new item alert team. He supports national wholesale accounts and works directly with manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to analyze client-specific data and develop specialized planogram solutions.