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CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless
- WirelessGigabit 3y agoWishful thinking, but next up should be homeopathic snake-oil. No company should have a homeopathic product sitting on the shelf next to an actual medicine.
- tasty_freeze 3y agoI was at a Walgreens years ago and there was a rack of impulse-buy items at the checkout counter. One of them was a homeopathic cold "remedy." I had the same thought as you -- Walgreens is hurting their reputation as a trustworthy pharmacy, but then I realized that behind the counter was a wall of cigarettes. That resolved the tension for me: if they are willing to sell cancer causing agents, selling homeopathic meds is tame in comparison. Their goal, of course, is to make money, not to make you better.
- DangitBobby 3y agoThis is what the entire latter 2/3 of the article is about.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Alex3917 3y ago> Wishful thinking, but next up should be homeopathic snake-oil. It sounds like it's serving a useful purpose. > "I know so many people… hell, I've done this myself, I've bought [a homeopathic] product by mistake," Little said. In a trip to the drug store while sick or as a weary parent of a miserably ill child, it's easy to mistakenly pick up a homeopathic product in haste or the fog of infection. If folks are going to irresponsibly take some random drug without having any idea what's in it, it sounds like funneling them toward something that won't harm them is a good thing. I mean would you really rather have them giving their kids something like tylenol without reading the dosage instructions?
- ekianjo 3y agoWe should give kids aspirin just like we used to and stop believing a ridiculous paper that claims that it causes some kind of rare disease.
- brandonmenc 3y ago> like we used to We haven't given aspirin to kids for like half a century. I know this, because my uncle died from Reye syndrome from aspirin when he was two years old right before the recommendation changed. I'm guessing a decent number of unexplained child deaths from back then can be attributed to Reye syndrome from aspirin.
- irons 3y agoIf you're assuming that the homeopathic stuff is incapable of harming anyone, you're mistaken. https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/08/fda-warns-amazon-to-stop-selling-bogus-anti-poxvirus-products-for-kids/ https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/08/fda-warns-amazon-to-s...
- derbOac 3y agoThe reason to remove such products is because they contain dangerous agents that aren't being disclosed. The same would be said of any scientifically well-validated product that was tainted. If bottles of paracetamol/acetaminophen were contaminated with toxic mold, those should be removed too I think. I personally think the FDA should be more focused on these kinds of things — contamination and labeling fraud — and less on regulation of efficacy or access. We need more access and competition in the US, not less.
- MBCook 3y agoBut they leave the homeopathic junk mixed in as if it was actual medicine.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- declan_roberts 3y ago[flagged]
- DangitBobby 3y agoIt's usually seen as a bad thing when people are scammed out of money.
- ryandrake 3y agoFraud and deception should bother everyone, regardless of whether they are victims.
- woodruffw 3y agoI don’t think that’s what the OP is saying. They’re pointing out that it’s inconsistent for CVS to offer their stated rationale for phenylephrine while continuing to shelve homeopathics. Whether or not it’s personally bothersome doesn’t enter into it; the inconsistency is itself noteworthy.
- anikan_vader 3y agoNot sure why this comment is being downvoted? Placebo medication is known to have massive health benefits that go far beyond pain relief.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ekianjo 3y agoThis is a myth. Placebo effect is an invention. What you observe is return to the mean.
- junon 3y agoI'm more surprised Sudafed was shown as an OTC. Isn't that one of the ingredients in meth? Not really the subject of the article but it struck me as odd.
- barney54 3y agoNot real Sudafed. Real Sudafed isn’t OTC because it is pseudoephedrine—in fact that’s where Sudafed got its name.
- strifey 3y agoReal sudafed is OTC, you just need to ask for it at the counter. No prescription is required. They just don't have it on shelves, because they require you to show your ID when purchasing it. I'm assuming this is so they can track how much a person is buying to track people who are using it for illicit purposes.
- techsupporter 3y agoAnd this means we're going to have an easier time buying the stuff that works...right? ...right?
- gwern 3y agoYou will have an easier time inasmuch as you will no longer think, as almost everyone did, that your purchase of phenylephrine is adequate. The hardest pseudoephedrine to buy is the one you don't think you need.
- dartos 3y agoThis is a difficult comment to parse
- Waterluvian 3y agoPeople blissfully treated with placebos because the stuff that actually worked can be kind of hardcore. My (I’ve learned: unpopular) opinion is that not everything is a cosmic wrongness that demands a 1Hr Photo of a fix. It’s okay to just work through a cold with rest and water and warm beverages.
- jen20 3y ago> It’s okay to just work through a cold with rest and water and warm beverages. Spot the person with no children and no job responsibilities!
- Waterluvian 3y ago(Has a four and a six year old)
- TeMPOraL 3y agoThought the same thing. I've always been a "better living through chemistry" kind of person, but having kids pushed me straight into "find what pill makes it go away, and take it" as default response, because ain't anyone have time to deal with bullshit like a cold, especially when the rest of the family is down with it again, third time this month.
- varelse 3y ago[dead]
- Havoc 3y agoWasn't this the one they substituted with a half arsed version because the real deal was being bulk bought and cooked into meth? I guess new version being useless for meth cooking isn't the only thing it is useless at
- heavyset_go 3y agoYes, and there's been evidence that is was garbage for years.
- Auracle 3y agoWe literally knew the day they put it in the shelves it was 100% ineffective. The FDA dropped the ball hard on this.
- heavyset_go 3y agoIt's a weird intersection of the War on Drugs, security theater and pharmaceutical regulation that brings out the worst of all three.
- Obscurity4340 3y agoThis is exactly my point although I don't know that I could have encapsulated so succinctly and elegantly. Its unmitigated idiocy all around
- AdamJacobMuller 3y agoand it's done nothing to curtail the availability of methamphetamine. But, sure, it's put a lot of grandma's in jail https://reason.com/2009/09/30/put-down-the-cold-pills-grandm/ https://reason.com/2009/09/30/put-down-the-cold-pills-grandm...
- yieldcrv 3y agoWould the article line the FDA to regulate more things? or is it just pointing out irony
- deepsquirrelnet 3y agoFinally, phenylephrine has been known for a long time to be ineffective and no better than placebo in trials.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- pyrophane 3y agoMy understanding is that they are only removing products that ONLY contain Phenylephrine, which means they will still sell it when it is part of multiple-ingredient formulations, which are in themselves kind of a scam. For example, many OTC "severe cold/flu" formulations contain: - Acetaminophen. Potentially helpful for the body aches that come with the flu, but a lot of the time when I'm sick, I don't exactly need or benefit from a pain reliever. If you have a fever it can reduce it, but for a minor fever I'm not sure that is necessary. - A cough suppressant (Dextromethorphan) and an expectorant (Guaifenesin). Most recommendations I've read advise taking one or the other depending on the type of the cough, but not both. For a productive cough, a cough suppressant can be counterproductive. - For PM formulations, an antihistamine as a sleep aid. - And of course Phenylephrine as a decongestant, which doesn't work. People feel sick and they go in and just say "I'll take whatever is strongest" and they get overcharged for these weird formulations that are sort of kitchen-sink type things. I guess they are mostly harmless but you wind of spending $20 for pennies worth of out-of-patent ingredients that might actually make you feel a bit worse. And yeah, if you are actually congested, go to the pharmacy counter and get Pseudoephedrine. It costs next to nothing and in my experience works.
- cma 3y agoNot harmless with Acetaminophen of they don't realize it and also take pills at the same time, pretty narrow range to liver damage.
- shanewilhelm 3y agoYou might be thinking of aspirin, which is toxic at fairly low dosages. Acetaminophen (aka Tylenol) is much, much safer.
- tcoff91 3y agoI'm pretty sure you have it backwards. Tylenol/Acetaminophen is quite hard on the liver. https://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/acetaminophen_overdose#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20overdoses%20of%20acetaminophen,the%20Harvard%20Women's%20Health%20Watch https://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/acetaminophen_....
- tomohawk 3y agoThis sucks. I rarely take any of this stuff, but phenylephrine can do a lot to relieve pain.
- 01100011 3y agoAre you sure you're thinking of the right drug? I haven't heard that it possesses any analgesic properties.
- alphabettsy 3y agoFor many it does indirectly since it relieves sinus pressure.
- google234123 3y agopsuedoephedrine is the only one that works.
- AdamJacobMuller 3y agoAnd it works really well. I have some debilitating allergies during the summers and it's basically benadryl or pseudoephedrine. If I want to stay remotely functional, I need pseudoephedrine.
- maxerickson 3y agoWhat's your experience with the more recent non sedating antihistamines? I find that Allegra is pretty helpful with minimal to no side effects, Zyrtec doesn't have a lot of side effects but isn't as helpful, and then Claritin is about the same benefit as Zyrtec with a bit of fogginess.
- foresto 3y agoFor those who haven't seen it yet: A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine From N-Methylamphetamine https://archive.org/details/pseudosynth https://archive.org/details/pseudosynth
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Obscurity4340 3y agoSuch a classic :) Top shelf
- Obscurity4340 3y agoI've heard whispers some drug chemist figured out how to whip up dextroamphetmaine (main ingredient of Adderall more or less) from plastic spoons or polystyrene or some shit. They might have even written a literal scientific paper on it or something to that effect
- jstarfish 3y agoHeh. I'm at the tail end of either COVID or the worst sinus infection of my life. I asked my wife to grab some (real) Sudafed from the CVS, which they also were not stocking (they are constantly robbed), but the pharmacist recommended "oxymetazoline hydrochloride" (Afrin?) as being just as effective without the side effects. Gotta say, she wasn't wrong. As a nasal spray it works way quicker than Sudafed pills and without the "tweakiness" (worst was some heart racing, but I could still sleep on it). Was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked as a decongestant. I don't think there's anything useful to junkies in it but it was still locked up for some reason. A+++ would buy again.
- Jeff_Brown 3y agoThe day before I flew from Europe to South America a few weeks ago I had a completely stopped nose. Solid brick. I was terrified of damaging my ears. I took Afrin and some real Sudafed, starting about six hours before flying, and was careful to start balancing my ear pressure as soon as the plane started to descend (which was about 25 minutes before landing and 10 minutes before they announced descent). Zero problems. One or both of those two drugs is a miracle. (It probably helped that the second leg of the flight landed in Bogota, where air pressure is less than it is in a commercial jet. But the first leg landed near sea level.)
- jtbayly 3y agoWorks great, BUT easily habit forming. Beware.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoMy doc gave me a trick that prevents the rebound effect of Afrin (and other addictive vasoconstricting sprays). When you start the Afrin, or about a week before you want to stop it, start using a nasal steroid spray (nasalcort or whatever you prefer). The steroid will prevent the swelling and itself has no rebound period. After a week after stopping the Afrin, stop the steroid as well, and you will successfully be congestion free the entire time. I prefer this to pseudoephedrine as it’s not a systemic solution to a local problem in the nasal cavity.
- gumby 3y agoSince homeopathy is still legal I think I'll launch a series of treatments based on your astrological sign (and perhaps the time when you get sick). Take this pill if you're a fish, have a cold, and it's October.
- runlevel1 3y agoMake sure you put "Invented by a scuba diver!" on the package like the old Airborne boxes. Might get bought for $150M just like they did.[^1] [1]: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120402005634/en/Schiff-Nutrition-Acquires-Airborne-Leading-Brand-Immunity https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120402005634/en/Sch...
- jojobas 3y agoShareholder lawsuit in 3... 2.... 1... Is drug uselessness a defense for the management if it's profitable?
- Obscurity4340 3y agoIts annoying how the biggest consideration in whats get OTC'd is how useless it is (only slightly above homeopathic level useless) or how painful the overdose is (more painful -> sure, knock urself out) and little recreational potential it has (see point 2 + again, knock urself out) with a few radical exception(s) Edit: if its pharmacologically active and effective for "an" indication, its fun/euphoric, and super safe? --> illegal or controlled vs snake oil, no fun, narrow or easily surpassed and potentially catastrophic therapeutic window --> sure, knock urself out
- Obscurity4340 3y agoIts almost like they dont give a fuck about safety or efficacy and "they" just don't want you getting high Edit: meth is technically legal, with the caveat its only the levorotatory isomer
- Obscurity4340 3y ago*small caveat
- Obscurity4340 3y agoIn Soviet Russia, sudafed methylates you!
- Obscurity4340 3y ago*turns you to Meth