Panel Weighs Nonprescription Cholesterol Drug

U.S. advisers are set to decide on Friday whether they will recommend approval for Merck & Co. Inc.'s plan to sell a cholesterol-lowering medicine on drugstore shelves without a prescription. Allowing Merck's Mevacor to be sold over the counter would be a major shift. Nonprescription drugs generally treat conditions with easily recognized symptoms such as a runny nose. High cholesterol can be detected only with a blood test. Merck and Johnson & Johnson are seeking Food and Drug Administration permission to sell a nonprescription, low-dose version of Mevacor that would cost about $1 a day. The drug is a statin, one of the prescription medicines used by millions to reduce cholesterol and heart attack risk. Heart disease is the leading killer of Americans. The advisory panel is expected to vote on Friday afternoon whether to recommend the FDA approve Merck's plan. The FDA will make the final decision, but the agency usually follows the guidance of its panels. The FDA rejected earlier proposals for nonprescription statins from Merck and others, most recently in 2000.