New OTC products on the German market: Stada extends its Elotrans line with an electrolyte supplement aimed at sporty and social youth; Klinge also launches an electrolyte product, but as a food for special medical purposes for diarrhea sufferers; and Orthomol introduces a multinutrient supplement to help people age healthily. 

With the help of Ceuta Healthcare, Irish men's health specialist Careforsons is launching its hair loss treatments in UK Superdrug stores. CEO William Kennedy talks to HBW Insight about the transition from the direct-to-consumer, online, subscription-based model to the bricks-and-mortar channel, and how the company intends to differentiate itself from category incumbents like Kenvue's Regaine and Dr Wolff's Alpecin. 

The UK's medicines regulator, MHRA, alongside other government agencies, intends to work together with manufacturers to identify Rx-to-OTC switch candidates. Switch criteria might include “different strength medicines to those available today, combination formulations, or medicines manufacturers already offer without prescriptions in other countries,” NHS England says, in its recently published “Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care.”

Europe's consumer health industry is faced with proliferating regulations under the EU's Green Deal policy program. Proposed revisions to the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, for example, expect pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers to pay for the removal of micro-pollutants that are mostly flushed into the wastewater system by consumers. While the European Commission says it is “sympathetic” to industry's concerns, such as those raised at the AESGP Annual Meeting and in recent publications, its director for zero pollution and green cities, Veronica Manfredi, stressed that “there are no excuses, there can be no business as usual” given the urgency of the situation. 

European consumer health companies today have the luxury of voluntarily setting sustainability goals. But with regulations looming and pressure from retailers and consumers mounting, such requirements will soon be mandatory, Haleon’s Joe Muscat warned at the recent AESGP Annual Meeting in Paris, France. To ride the climate wave, while achieving their objectives, OTC firms need to work together, he explained.

Stada Arzneimittel’s UK dietary supplement subsidiary Natures Aid is expanding its Mini Drops and Super Stars children’s wellness brands with new products.