Hacker News

4123 readers

1 users here now

This community serves to share top posts on Hacker News with the wider fediverse.

Rules

0. Keep it legal

Keep it civil and SFW
Keep it safe for members of marginalised groups

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Why has a useless cold medication been allowed on shelves for years? (www.theatlantic.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Roughly two decades ago, oral phenylephrine began proliferating on pharmacy shelves despite mounting—and now damning—evidence that the drug simply does not work.

“It has been an open secret among pharmacists,” says Randy Hatton, a pharmacy professor at the University of Florida, who filed a citizen petition in 2007 and again in 2015 asking the FDA to reevaluate phenylephrine. This week, an advisory panel to the FDA voted 16–0 that the drug is ineffective orally, which could pave the way for the agency to finally pull the drug.

If so, the impact would be huge. Phenylephrine is combined with fever reducers, cough suppressants, or antihistamines in many popular multidrug products such as the aforementioned DayQuil. Americans collectively shell out $1.763 billion a year for cold and allergy meds with phenylephrine, according to the FDA, which also calls the number a likely underestimate. That’s a lot of money for a decongestant that, again, does not work.

Thanks a lot, meth.