A survey of 1,000 EU health consumers commissioned by AESGP finds that OTC users see numerous benefits of digital patient information leaflets, but are agreed that information should also continue to be available in paper form.

Haleon says it'll take about 10 more months to bring Futura's Eroxon erectile dysfunction gel to the US. Analysts, however, say it may even arrive before the end of the year, with Haleon already investing significantly in its launch strategy. 

Bayer Consumer Health's recently established Precision Health unit launches its Aspirin Heart Risk Assessment tool in Saudi Arabia. Developed in partnership with British medtech firm Huma Therapeutics, Bayer is planning to roll out the digital tool to other countries in the Middle East and also Latin America. 

Infirst has been admonished by UK ad authority, ASA, for implying in a TV commercial its lipid-based ibuprofen brand Flarin was more, or uniquely, effective for joint pain relief than other forms of ibuprofen.

In this episode of the updated Over The Counter podcast, HBW Insight speaks to sustainable packaging expert Tony Perrotta about the complexities of replacing plastic pill packs in medicines packaging. Perrotta is a partner at PA Consulting, which set up the Blister Pack Collective alongside consumer health players Haleon, Bayer and Sanofi. They are working with PulPac, which has invented a dry molded fiber alternative to plastic, which the Collective hopes to commercialize within 12-24 months. We discuss whether regulators will accept such alternatives, given the safety and stability requirements for medicines, and the challenges of recycling, given the multitude of different frameworks and processes across the world. Perrotta also reveals that one of the partners in PA Consulting’s Bottle Collective, which hopes to replace plastic bottles in the food, personal care and consumer health industries, will soon launch its first market trial.

The Association of the European Self-Care Industry gives EU regulators a to-do list of targeted reforms to save the Medical Devices Regulation from the scrapheap.