Pfizer Inc. plans to release a new version of Sudafed that eliminates an ingredient used to produce the highly addictive drug methamphetamine in homemade labs.

Pseudophedrine will be replaced with phenylephrine in Sudafed PE, which will be available starting Jan. 10 in the United States, Pfizer spokeswoman Erica Johnson said today.

The new formula will make it easier for consumers to purchase the medication and could help curtail meth production, Johnson said.

In many states, pharmacists routinely keep Sudafed and other cold medicines used to make meth behind a counter. Oklahoma requires that such medications be distributed by a pharmacist, a step also being considered in Indiana and other states hit hard by the drug epidemic.

Critics have contended such restrictions unfairly penalize those who truly need the medication.

“It’s a matter of striking a balance between giving access to legitimate consumers of the medicine and preventing criminals from getting hold of the product to convert it to methamphetamine,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the new formula has been sold for years in Europe and has proved safe and effective.

Eric Lawrence, program manager for an Indiana State Police unit that searches for clandestine drug laboratories, welcomed the change.

“Anything anybody can do to reduce the use of pseudophedrine to make meth is a good thing,” he said.

Indiana State Police expect to have dismantled 1,500 meth labs by the end of the year, up from 1,260 last year and just 27 in 1998. Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration reported that more than 7,000 meth labs were dismantled nationwide.

The drug, a stimulant that can be injected, smoked or ingested, has grown in popularity in recent years as its use and production have spread from the South and Southwest. It is most prevalent in California and the Midwest, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2004 National Drug Threat Assessment.

Jim Braum, a pharmacist at the Oak Hill Pharmacy in Evansville, is glad he will have an alternative to offer legitimate customers.

He keeps Sudafed and other cold medicines containing pseudophedrine behind a counter to prevent meth cooks from shoplifting or buying out the supply.

But he doubts the new Sudafed formula will curb meth production as long as the ingredient is available to purchase.

“The other pseudophedrine will still be out there,” Braum said.