Loratadine or Claritin?
Investigating the power of marketing and the financial benefits to name-brands in pollen allergy medicines.
Summers Full of Sniffles
The summer has long been a time I look forward to. Every year, it signified no school, warm weather, ice cream, and my birthday. However, there was always a downside to the summer: pollen allergies. Growing up with pollen allergies in the suburbs always made me appreciate air conditioning even more because it meant I could keep the windows closed and the pollen out. Even now, the World Allergy Organization has also stated that “allergic reactions to pollen have increased in both frequency and severity” over time, showing no signs of stopping any time soon.
After years of trying to power through without medication, I finally caved and tried out Claritin for the first time. I know some people have preferences on whether Allegra, Claritin, or Zyrtec is most effective, but for me, Claritin seemed to work fine every time. However, the price tag for Claritin always hurts my wallet, coming in at ~$10 for 5 tablets and ~$22 for 20 tablets (CVS). The pack of five wouldn’t even be able to get me through a week, so I would end up spending ~$40 on Claritin a month. As summer rolled around this year, I went to order my regular shipment of allergy medicine, and my dad mentioned that instead of buying Claritin, I could just buy the active ingredient from Costco. I don’t know why I never thought of this; maybe I didn’t think it was as effective, but theoretically, it should be the same on the biological level. When I got to Costco, I was shocked.
The active ingredient, Loratadine, was sold in containers of 365 tablets for a shockingly low $11.49!!
This means that per tablet, Claritin was ~37x more expensive than a generic version with the same makeup. I couldn’t believe I had been paying so much for Claritin when there was such an affordable option at Costco, sparking my interest in how much value name-brand adds to things like pollen allergy medication. Why does name-brand recognition play such a big role, and is there a financial attribution that can be drawn with Claritin?
Qualitative Impact of a Name-Brand
Besides being the best-selling antihistamine in the United States, Claritin holds a powerful name-brand association with its product, contributing to high customer awareness and familiarity. In a study done by Erol Kohli and Allison Buller, they found that even though the generic and brand-name drugs are equally effective, factors such as preferred company and advertising would persuade participants to pay more for brand name drugs.
In another article posted by The Intake by Jean Lee, Andrea Curry, and Daniel Morrison, they found that Gen Z was the most likely to prefer brand-name medications, coming in at 35%. Additionally, the top reasons for choosing brand-name medications over generic ones included (along with the percentage of people who chose it as a reason):
Increased trust in brand-name (62%)
Quality perception (57%)
Familiarity with the brand (54%)
Previous experience using the brand (45%)
This article also interestingly mentions that “60% of Americans prefer to buy brand-name medications but choose to buy generic ones because of the cost” (Tebra Study 2025). As someone who also used to prefer Claritin as opposed to the generic medication, it makes sense that the brand is able to leverage consumer trust, marketing, and consumer perception to increase the price tag.
Cost Analysis to Consumer (A Forecasting Exercise)
Despite setting the stage for how popular pollen allergy medication brands like Claritin utilize these tools to justify their prices. I also wanted to dive deeper into doing some calculations relating to the cost savings to US consumers of pollen allergy medications if everyone were to use generic brands as opposed to Claritin. All assumptions will be clearly stated.
Let’s assume the population of the U.S. is 340,000,000 people.
The Loratadine (active ingredient of Claritin) at Costco is cleared for individuals 6 years and older, so we can focus on that population. According to a 2022 figure from Statista, the number of children aged 0–5 is 22.4 million.
1 in 3 adults have seasonal allergies, and 1 in 4 children have a seasonal allergy. We’ll assume this refers solely to pollen allergies, and we'll take the average of the two for the purposes of our modeling.
Using a Tebra study, we can assume that 21% of this group prefers brand-name allergy medication. These individuals buy brand-name products. We'll assume Claritin is the sole vendor, although Zyrtec is also a major player. We can also assume pollen allergy season spans roughly 121 days through the summer months, with a dosage of one pill per day.
At a cost of $1.12 per pill (CVS), total spend on Claritin is:
\(\text{Claritin Spend} = 2,\!356,\!354,\!000 \times 1.12 \approx 2,\!638,\!116,\!480 \)At $0.03 per pill (Costco), the total spend on generic allergy medicines is:
Lastly, if 100% of these brand-name users switched to generics (assuming 100% conversion), the potential consumer savings would be:
Key Takeaways
These numbers are definitely overestimations due to the dependence on assumptions and the lack of granular data. These calculations are also immensely optimistic, and given more granular data, including conversion rates, average per-pill price, and current market share/consumers, would improve the accuracy.
Interestingly, the Claritin revenue in 2000 was $2.6B and is currently expected to grow with a CAGR of 4.5%. This would make the Claritin market worth $5.2B by 2033. Regardless, the conversion of even 5% of customers currently opting for Claritin could draw hundreds of millions of dollars away from brands like Claritin, showing the potential for generic versions to threaten the brand-name companies’ market share.
Regardless, Costco has become my new favorite for finding the cure to my summer sneezing and sniffles. This was a fun exercise to think through this kind of problem, and nonetheless, now when I debate about the best pollen allergy medicine with my friends, there will be another player present, not just the name brands :).
Thanks for reading!
Sources
[1] Bayer. “Pollen Allergy: A Growing Problem.” Bayer Global, 18 Apr. 2024, www.bayer.com/en/news-stories/the-pollen-problem.
[2] “Claritin Antihistamine Non-Drowsy Loratadine Tablets, 5 CT - CVS Pharmacy.” CVS Pharmacy, www.cvs.com/shop/claritin-antihistamine-non-drowsy-loratadine-tablets-5-ct-prodid-1760181?skuId=448753&cgaa=QWxsb3dHb29nbGVUb0FjY2Vzc0NWU1BhZ2Vz&cid=ps_ur_pla&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21049002227&gclid=Cj0KCQjwndHEBhDVARIsAGh0g3BjHCPUF5wicivw0b7kJtSqTD3xKbGw8ytmkKchP7_W-K-BkEk2WjkaAjqIEALw_wcB.
[3] “Kirkland Signature NonDrowsy AllerClear Antihistamine 10 Mg., 365 Tablets.” Costco Wholesale, www.costco.com/p/-/kirkland-signature-non-drowsy-allerclear-antihistamine-10-mg-365-tablets/11602332?DM_PersistentCookieCreated=true&bvstate=pg:2/ct:r&langId=-1.
[4] Times, New York. “The Claritin Effect; Prescription for Profit.” The New York Times, 11 Mar. 2001, www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/magazine/the-claritin-effect-prescription-for-profit.html.
[5] Kohli E, Buller A. Factors influencing consumer purchasing patterns of generic versus brand name over-the-counter drugs. South Med J. 2013 Feb;106(2):155-60. doi: 10.1097/SMJ.0b013e3182804c58. PMID: 23380752.
[6] Morrison, Daniel. “Do Lower Prices Make Generic Medications the Top Choice for Americans?” The Intake, 4 July 2025, www.tebra.com/theintake/healthcare-reports/patient-treatment/generic-vs-name-brand.
[7] Statista. “Number of Children in the U.S. in 2022, by Age Group.” Statista, 5 July 2024, www.statista.com/statistics/457786/number-of-children-in-the-us-by-age.
[8] “Allergy Facts.” Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America, 24 Apr. 2025, aafa.org/allergies/allergy-facts.
[9] Trinidad, Camille. “Loratadine: From Blockbuster Allergy Drug to Widely Accessible over the Counter Relief.” Medium, Medium, 17 June 2025, medium.com/%40camilleviscotrinidad/loratadine-from-blockbuster-allergy-drug-to-widely-accessible-over-the-counter-relief-7e9aa358f1ef.
[10] Reports, Verified Market. “Claritin Market Trends 2025 in United States | Growth Drivers and Industry Insights.” Verified Market Reports, 17 Feb. 2025, www.verifiedmarketreports.com/product/claritin-market.
AI tools and LLMs were used in the creation and formatting of LaTeX equations and syntax.