LITTLE FALLS, N.J. — While the market for nonprescription drug sales grew at an overall rate of 2.6%, Rx-to-OTC switches like Plan B and Prilosec, new products in personal lubricants, and cold medications outperformed the market average by large margins, according to data in “Nonprescription Drugs USA 2006,” a new study by Kline & Co. here released last week. "It's a market where about one-third of the products are showing strong growth and the remaining — mostly mature — products are either flat or declining," said Laura Mahecha, health care industry manager for Kline's market research division. "Companies across the industry are working hard to mitigate the effects of consumer movement toward mass merchandisers and private-label products." Barr Laboratories' Plan B emergency contraceptive helped push contraceptive products up by 19.2% last year, Kline's data shows. Despite its arrival late in the year, Plan B sold about $1 million in sales each week for the last six weeks of the year. Another Rx-to-OTC-switch product, Prilosec, grew by 23%, helping the large antacids and anti-gas product category to show 6.3% growth overall.

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