Summary

The FDA has proposed removing oral phenylephrine, a common ingredient in over-the-counter cold medicines like NyQuil and Sudafed, due to evidence that it is ineffective as a nasal decongestant.

The proposal follows a unanimous vote by FDA advisers last year, and recent studies showing less than 1% of the drug is absorbed into the bloodstream when taken orally.

The public comment period ends on May 7, after which the FDA may finalize the ban.

  • Mercuri@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    Good. Now do something about homeopathy. I’m so sick of having to explain to people that homeopathy is not medicine in any shape or form. It’s not even a home remedy. And it sits right next to actual medicine so people might accidentally buy it unwittingly.

    • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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      15 days ago

      This was so infuriating during covid as it was hard to find children’s cold medicine already and half the time you’d see a couple bottles of “Children’s cold and flu” on the shelf, buy it, and get home before you notice “homeopathic” written in 3pt font along the bottom of the bottle. Shit’s completely useless.

      • Mercuri@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        I’ve gotten into the habit of checking active ingredients after almost accidentally buying something homeopathic that was immediately adjacent the thing I actually meant to grab.

    • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      The problem is, unlike homeopathy, this drug was ineffective for what it was approved for while actually causing side effects. At least the water doesn’t do anything.

    • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
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      15 days ago

      I’m sure the Trump Administration will get right on banning homeopathy, or even just labelling it properly. lol

      • Mercuri@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Most certainly! They surely won’t completely dismantle the FDA and then allow big-pharma to dictate everything. /s

    • Verat@sh.itjust.works
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      15 days ago

      Right? You can’t even get ear drops that work anymore because all of the ones they stock over the counter are homeopathic where I live.

    • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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      15 days ago

      Ummm they did? That is what this banned, an advertised effective treatment that does nothing.

      • Mercuri@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Tell me you didn’t read the article without telling me you didn’t read the article.

        Seriously dude, you just had to read the first sentence. They only banned one particular ingredient.

        • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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          15 days ago

          That is included in most over the counter decongestants as the active ingredient.

          Please tell me this is not the first you have heard of the switch to combat meth production to a worse then placibo replacement?

          • Mercuri@lemmy.world
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            15 days ago

            Dude, what are you even talking about?

            I said it was good they banned the ineffective ingredient so now they should do something about banning homeopathy. You said, “Ummm they did? That is what this banned, an advertised effective treatment that does nothing” but they did NOT ban homeopathy, just that one specific ingredient which had nothing to do with homeopathy. Now you’re talking as if the first comment you said was something completely different.

            So please, tell me what argument you’re actually trying to make.

            • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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              15 days ago

              It was a dig at things like nyquill being homeopathy, since they both are treatments that don’t work being sold as if they do.

  • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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    16 days ago

    funny considering they caused the use of this garbage because we cant have real ephedrine cuz tweakers.

    was anyone under the delusion this shit worked?

    • Stalinwolf
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      16 days ago

      My former boss (Canada) kept a bag of ephedrine bottles in our produce cooler. Dude was twitchy as fuck. Very bird/dinosaur-like.

      He would take several per day and chase them with coffee and energy shots. Then he would complain intermittently about vomiting blood due to his ulcers.

    • Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works
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      16 days ago

      Who says you can’t? I can walk up to the pharmacy counter and get some with ID. It’s usually a helluva lot cheaper than the phenylephrine stuff, too.

      • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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        16 days ago

        duude i totally forgot they hid it behind the counter.

        i grew up being able to buy full bottles of almost pure ephedrine billed as a ‘stay awake’ thing for truckers and the like. like no-doze

      • iopq@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        Yeah, you have to know about it to ask for it. Most people would buy the useless shit

  • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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    16 days ago

    I remember like a year or two ago when they officially announced these products are LESS effective than a placebo. How the hell is it taking so long to get them off the shelves?

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      I assume they submitted the results and stated they need to be removed, then reviewed the supreme courts measure that stated they only have power to make measures if Congress grants them privilege to do so (precidence, set in Julyish of 2022 with the EPA) making the specialized divisions of government created by Congress illegitimate unless Congress votes on the measure afterwards, making them just superficial recommendations for Congress to wait and see what their lobbyists think is okay.

      Aka will drug companies pay enough to keep us lying to the public, vs maybe we will go by the recorded data.

      Exon mobile recorded their data of environmental impacts in what year? And we had battery powered vehicles traveling up to 100 miles before that time. Instead of doing what was best for the future of the people, we chose what was best for profits. Reference article for fun; https://www.corporateknights.com/transportation/half-a-century-ago-one-u-s-senator-fought-to-ban-gas-powered-cars-almost-won

      Point being. what power did they have to remove them from the shelves. I assume they are launching these last ditch efforts before Biden leaves, and praying to get some support before they get chiseled away at.

      Imagine where we would be if GM/Ford and such started forcing the R&D in 1975 instead of 2005, 2015 or whatever we call it now

    • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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      16 days ago

      It won’t even take that - you can sell products that don’t work (airborn, homeopathy, etc.), you just can’t claim that it does. So they’ll slap the standard “this product is not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease” disclaimer on it and people will continue to buy it.

  • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Is this the shit they started using when they started using the original stuff to make meth?

    • Verat@sh.itjust.works
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      15 days ago

      By my understanding yes, pseudoephedrine was being used for meth so they put it behind the counter and the name brand “Sudafed” made a PE line that was this, phenylephrine, to stay over the counter.

  • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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    16 days ago

    I have been railing about how this shit doesn’t work for what feels like forever.

    The entire cold/cough aisle is essentially a scam. Pick up some generic diphenhydramine, APAP, ibuP, and some Pseduophedrine. It will cheap as dirt and do all the things that overpriced shit will do. Anything else that actually helps with a cold/cough is prescription only.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      Pseudoephedrine can’t legally be sold in the aisles, and requires you to get out from the pharmacist’s counter and provide an ID.

      That’s why they push the aid that doesn’t work. It can be sold at a gas station and after hours.

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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    16 days ago

    It won’t be pulled from the shelves - it’ll just be getting some new fine-print.

    These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

  • Nottalottapies@aussie.zone
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    16 days ago

    About time. Thankfully in Australia we can still get access to the ones containing psuedoephedrine, which works amazingly well.

    Can’t believe it has taken this long to see the inefficacy of these.

    • Mercuri@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      In the US, you can still get the stuff containing pseudoephedrine but you have to go to the pharmacy and ask for it and then show your ID. Out of curiosity, what’s the process in Australia?

      • TrippaSnippa@lemm.ee
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        15 days ago

        It’s the same here. The Therapeutic Goods Administration, our equivalent to the FDA, generally follows along with FDA regulations (though I don’t think that will continue from next year somehow).

        • Mercuri@lemmy.world
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          15 days ago

          (though I don’t think that will continue from next year somehow).

          Yeah, might be hard to follow FDA regulations when the FDA gets dismantled and no longer exists… eye twitch

  • Phoenixz
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    15 days ago

    No worries, three months from now it’ll all be back on the shelves again

  • Not_mikey@slrpnk.net
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    16 days ago

    and Sudafed

    Isn’t Sudafed supposed to be short for pseudoephedrine , the stuff that actually works but they have to keep behind the counter?

    • RandomGen1@lemm.ee
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      16 days ago

      There’s also Sudsfed PE which is Phenylephrine instead of pseudoephedrine. Presumably only the PE sub-brand would be banned under this rule