WOONSOCKET – Just ahead of flu season, CVS Health Corp. is pulling some over-the-counter allergy and cold medicines from its shelves after the Food and Drug Administration advisory committee deemed the products’ active ingredient ineffective.
In September the FDA advisory committee unanimously voted “no” to the question of whether current scientific data supports that orally administered phenylephrine is an effective nasal decongestant.
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Phenylephrine is found in popular medicines, including types of Sudafed, Benadryl and Dayquil. The FDA has previously studied the scientific efficacy of oral phenylephrine and in September members of the advisory committee found that older results of these studies were “questionable.” But committee members agreed that more recent studies were “credible and compelling,” with many trials failing to show nasal congestion relief from phenylephrine use.
“We are aware of the FDA Advisory Committee’s position on oral phenylephrine and will follow direction from the FDA to ensure products we sell comply with all laws and regulations,” CVS wrote in a statement to Providence Business News Friday.
The FDA has not yet removed phenylephrine from its list of ingredients for over-the-counter use and plans to take public opinions before doing so, according to an Oct. 19 Reuters report.
A CVS spokesperson did not specify the name of the products that are no longer being sold or when they were pulled from the shelves. The Woonsocket-based pharmacy chain said it is removing a “small number of oral decongestant products that contain phenylephrine as the only active ingredient” from its stores and it will continue to offer other oral cough and cold products in order to “meet consumer needs.”
Reuters also reported that the pharmacy chain Walgreens Co. indicated on Thursday that it follows FDA regulations and is monitoring the situation.
Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You can reach her at Castellani@PBN.com
