The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today determined that a key ingredient in many over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines is not effective in clearing up nasal congestion.
Regarding phenylephrine, known as phenephrine in English, “new research confirms that taking the drug orally causes it to be processed in the stomach and eventually degraded in the liver, so the amount that reaches the nose can control nasal drip and produce the desired anti-allergy effects effect,” explained Dr. Dadilia Garcés, a medical epidemiologist and professor at Miami Dade College.
Phenylephrine is described as a nasal decongestant found in popular over-the-counter syrups and tablets used to treat cold symptoms or respiratory illnesses associated with coughs.
After reviewing the available data, the FDA concluded that the original study was flawed and did not meet current standards and that the new data provide evidence that oral phenylephrine is effective as a nasal decongestant.
“The formulations may need to be modified and retain other common cold ingredients, but phenylephrine will be removed as an ingredient under a possible FDA order,” the epidemiologist warned.
There are other options, however, because “there are some allergy medications that can be taken by mouth, but some of them are not yet readily available to the public,” Dr. Garces said.
These are medicines containing pseudoephedrine that are sold for free but they are behind the counter and you have to ask the pharmacist after showing identification as they are semi-controlled drugs as unscrupulous people use them to compound drugs.
While the FDA states that phenylephrine tablets and syrup are not effective for nasal congestion, that conclusion does not apply to the nasal spray version of the drug, which is considered effective.