THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997             TAG: 9701140324
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   29 lines

FDA WANTS TO PULL SELDANE ALLERGY DRUG OFF MARKET

Allergy sufferers who have depended on Seldane to fight off sneezing, watery eyes and runny nose will have to turn to another medicine soon if the government succeeds in pulling the drug off the market.

The Food and Drug Administration proposed withdrawing approval for the second-most-popular allergy drug because it has potentially deadly side effects.

Seldane's maker plans to fight the action but is urging doctors to switch patients to a safer version of the drug. Hoechst Marion Roussel, which makes Seldane, also manufactures Allegra, which has Seldane's benefits without the side effects.

The company has 30 days in which to request a hearing on why terfenadine, the generic name of Seldane, should not be taken off the market. Some 40 million Americans suffer from allergies.

When it was introduced in 1985, Seldane was the first drug to relieve the effects of seasonal allergies without drowsiness. But in 1992, doctors discovered that people with liver disease or who took ketoconazole, an antifungal agent, or erythromycin, an antibiotic, could suffer heart rhythm problems by taking Seldane.

KEYWORDS: SELDANE FDA