FDA to pull common but ineffective cold medicine from market

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: CBS News

HealthWatch
FDA to pull common but ineffective cold medicine from market

By Alexander Tin
Edited By Paula Cohen
November 7, 2024 / 12:32 PM EST / CBS News

The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it would seek to pull a widely used ingredient in cough and cold medicines from the market, after the agency's scientists concluded that the oral version of the drug is ineffective as a nasal decongestant.

The FDA's proposal comes more than a year after the agency's outside advisers voted against continued use of the ingredient, called oral phenylephrine, citing concerns with the initial data used to support its approval and new data questioning its effectiveness. ... A number of common over-the-counter nasal decongestants have relied on phenylephrine alone or in combination with other ingredients for years, including some cold and cough versions of Advil, NyQuil, Sudafed, Robitussin, Tylenol and Theraflu.

"Based on our review of available data, and consistent with the advice of the advisory committee, we are taking this next step in the process to propose removing oral phenylephrine because it is not effective as a nasal decongestant," Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a news release.

The agency's proposed order would remove oral phenylephrine from the "monograph" of ingredients that drugmakers are allowed to use in cough and cold medicines which are sold on store shelves without a prescription.

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Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-cold-medicine-phenylephrine-ineffective/

[Freethinker65]

1. Just wait until RFK Jr has a say

[GB_RN]

2. As A Healthcare Professional...

I can tell you right now that between Cantaloupe Caligula the Corpulent and RFK, Jr., people will die…and unnecessarily so. Banning vaccines will bring back childhood diseases. Gutting the FDA will kill the regulatory system that protects us from bad actors, and ensures that the medicines we use are (at least somewhat reasonably) safe.

The stupidity is unreal. There are black holes that are less dense than these people (Caligula himself, his KKKultists and all the other hangers-on and his sycophantic, unqualified appointees).

[forgotmylogin]

3. Isn't phenylephrine what they replaced pseudoephedrine with?

When they moved pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) behind the counter, this is what replaced it on the shelf.

Which was understandable as Sudafed is an ingredient used to illicitly manufacture meth/methamphetamines. It requires a lot of Sudafed pills, which is why they keep track of and limit how much a person buys.

Sudafed is great for congestion and sinus issues. Aleve with Sudafed saved my life when I was unable to leave work while experiencing a painful head cold.

I think I read phenylephrine works better as a *topical* decongestant (swabbed directly inside the nasal cavity like Zicam) but doesn't do a whole lot if taken in pill form and swallowed.

[elleng]

4. I think so, and have questioned effectieness;

I now 'just' use Sudafed. generic IS available @ CVS.