Forbes December 9, 2025
Joshua P. Cohen

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary tweeted last week that “we need more drugs to be “over-the-counter” (no prescription required),” adding that OTC medications offer more price transparency, competition and convenience. This message echoes what previous presidential administrations have said for 15 years about facilitating switches of prescription-only products to OTC status. Yet switch activity has trended mostly downward during this time. And thus far in 2025, there have been no switches, just as in 2024.

Among the goals outlined in President Trump’s executive order issued in May, entitled Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First, is improving the process by which prescription drugs can be switched to OTC medications. Presumably, this would include more novel switches...

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