The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that nasal decongestants like Dayquil and Allegra don’t work as well as they’re supposed to.
FDA trials found that even high doses of the active ingredient phenylephrine did not reduce swelling in blood vessels in the nose and ears.
In such a situation, the FDA can remove ineffective drugs from the market.
Scripps News spoke with pediatric airway surgeon Dr. Susannah Hills about the findings.
Will these decongestants disappear?
Hills said, “I think it’s very likely that they will be taken off the shelves. I’ve never been a big fan of recommending them. I think at this point they should probably be taken off the shelves. ” “We can see from the data we have – and we have good data from studies done since 2016 – that they don’t really help at all, but they can cause significant side effects. They increase blood pressure. can cause if not used correctly. They can be illegally processed into methamphetamine. So really, the benefits are just not there. They should probably be pulled from the shelves. And I’m sure they Will be.”
why now?
“It’s taken a while for the FDA to get the data it needs,” Hills said. “The original studies used to support the approval of the drugs decades ago have been found to be very flawed. And at this point, we have actually collected enough good data to support the fact that they help nasal congestion.” Don’t do it.”
What options are there?
Hills said, “Fortunately, there are some other good options for people. Again, the hard reality is that there is nothing perfect for nasal congestion when you get sick.” “We don’t have a cure for the common cold or the virus yet. We have vaccines that help keep you from getting sick as much as possible, but nothing is perfect.”
“The medications I would typically recommend to people instead of phenylephrine-based products are, for example, a nasal steroid spray … or an anti-histamine,” Hills said. “They can also be quite effective and reduce inflammation in the same way.”