CVS is yanking popular decongestants from its shelves after the FDA said they don't work
The pharmacy chain CVS said this week that it will no longer sell many popular decongestants.
Last month, an FDA panel said phenylephrine, the active ingredient in the drugs, has no effect.
The ingredient is found in drugs such as Sudafed PE, Allegra, and DayQuil.
CVS this week said it is pulling many popular decongestants from its shelves after advisors to the Food and Drug Administration said the active ingredient simply does not work.
In September, an advisory panel to the FDA ruled that phenylephrine, when taken orally, is no better than a placebo despite being on the market for more than half a century. The ingredient can be found in many popular over-the-counter drugs, such as Sudafed PE, accounting for $1.8 billion in sales each year.
"Modern studies, when well-conducted, are not showing any improvement in congestion with phenylephrine," Mark Dykewicz, an allergy specialist at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, said in a statement.
While CVS will still sell some drugs with phenylephrine — Dayquil and Allegra contain it alongside other active ingredients — a spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that it is removing all items that contain it as the sole active ingredient. The FDA has not asked pharmacies to remove the drugs, the Journal noted, but appears on track to ultimately remove phenylephrine from its list of approved medicines.
How could a drug that doesn't work be sold for more than 50 years? Leslie Hendeles, a consultant to the FDA, told Time magazine that it is because federal regulators have in the past only examined whether over-the-counter drugs are safe — not whether they work.
"I don't ever remember a drug being removed from the market because it wasn't effective," he said.
So far, other drug chains are not following CVS. Representatives for Walgreens and Rite Aid told news outlets they will abide by any future guidance from the FDA.
Read the original article on Insider
