Late last week, drugstore giant CVS revealed that it was voluntarily removing some cold and flu medicines from its shelves because they were ineffective, but many other ineffective products were still on the shelves. Remaining.
The move by CVS comes after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel unanimously resolved last month that phenylephrine, a common nasal decongestant, is not effective in treating nasal congestion. However, this comes before the FDA itself can act on the vote, and it is likely that the agency will ultimately revoke phenylephrine’s approval.
In a statement to Ars, a CVS spokesperson indicated that the FDA advisory committee vote prompted the change, but that the company would “follow FDA guidance.”
“While we are removing a small number of oral decongestant products that contain phenylephrine as the only active ingredient from CVS Pharmacy stores, we are removing many other oral cough and cold products to meet consumer needs,” CVS’s statement said. will continue to be provided.” Details such as which products and how many products will be removed or when the removal will be completed were not disclosed.
Removing phenylephrine products from drugstore shelves is a long-awaited victory for both researchers and consumers. Since at least 2007, researchers have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of phenylephrine, which is included in popular oral medications under brand names such as Sudafed, Mucinex, NyQuil, and Benadryl. The small studies from the 1960s and 1970s that formed the basis for the FDA’s initial approval in 1976 were found to be seriously flawed. And three large clinical trials since 2007 have shown the drug to be ineffective. Pharmacological studies have revealed the reason. Phenylephrine is highly metabolized in the intestine, leaving less than 1 percent of the active drug bioavailable. Consumers, meanwhile, were largely uninformed and would spend nearly $2 billion in 2022 on these products, which researchers have long said are ineffective.
But when these useless drugs eventually disappear from CVS shelves, they leave behind an equally useless group of products: homeopathic products.
“Snake oil” remains
These bogus treatments are based on centuries of pseudoscience and have repeatedly been proven to be no more effective than placebos. In fact, if they prove effective, they would overturn basic scientific understanding.For decades, consumer advocates and watchdogs have blamed against themNevertheless, these products are readily available on the shelves of all major drug stores.
Homeopathy relies on two false beliefs. One is the “law of similars,” also known as “like cures like,” which states that a substance that causes a certain symptom in a healthy person can treat a condition or disease in a sick person with the same symptoms. means. The “law of infinitesimals” states that diluting a substance that is said to have a therapeutic effect will make it even more effective in treating a medical condition. As such, homeopathic products often start out with strange, sometimes toxic substances, and are eventually diluted with ritualistic procedures and forgotten. The result is simply water or an inert filler component. Homeopaths agree that water molecules have “memory“of matter” (they are not).
Homeopathic products lurking alongside real medicine on CVS shelves.
CFI
Sounds silly? that’s right. Nevertheless, homeopathic products are not only available at major drug stores and retail stores nationwide, but they can also be sold on the same shelves alongside evidence-based medicines that have gone through the FDA’s rigorous safety and efficacy evaluations. It happens often.
The FDA has the authority to regulate homeopathic products.However, under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, homeopathic products are generally Considered exempt from premarket safety and efficacy review by FDA As long as the active ingredient is included in the homeopathic pharmacopoeia (public list of substances approved by homeopathy). As a result, homeopathic products are on the market without FDA review and sit on shelves alongside FDA-approved, evidence-based medicines.
“Most people don’t know what these are,” Nicholas Little, vice president and legal director of the Center for Inquiry, a consumer advocacy group, said in an interview with Ars newspaper about homeopathic products. he said.
