2023-10-23 05:33:19
After a first warning at the end of 2021, the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) calls for no longer using anti-cold tablets, which are likely to cause rare adverse effects such as heart attacks and strokes.
Is the cure worse than the disease? They can relieve a cold and are popular with many patients, but vasoconstrictor tablets such as Humex, Actifed, Nurofen or Dolirhume are not recommended by the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM), without a ban decision yet. this stage.
“I want to say to the French: don’t use them anymore,” explains the president of the agency Christelle Ratignier-Carbonneil to Parisian.
Potentially serious side effects
In question, rare adverse effects, linked to too little dilation of the blood vessels, but recurrent enough to merit an alert: “Myocardial infarctions and strokes can occur after their use. (…) These very events Serious illnesses can occur regardless of the dose and duration of treatment,” explains the president of the ANSM.
The agency had already warned users of these medications, often available without a prescription, in 2021, explaining that it was necessary to inform their pharmacist of their medical history and possible contraindications. It also specified that these products should not be used by children under 15 years of age and by pregnant or breastfeeding women.
In the future, “we are not going to prioritize this drug, that’s what the ANSM is asking us: to be careful and not put too much emphasis on this molecule”, explains Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the Union of Community Pharmacists’ Unions, on BFMTV.
Notice from the European Union by the end of 2023
The European Union decided in early 2023 to reassess the status of these drugs and should deliver an opinion before the end of the year. In France, this early indication is linked to “serious effects, while the common cold is a benign pathology”, according to Christelle Ratignier-Carbonneil.
The ANSM indicated in 2021 that the sales figures for vasoconstrictors had fallen by 46% between winter 2016-2017 and winter 2019-2020. A cold lasts between seven and ten days, with or without medication, because these only act on the symptoms of the illness.
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