FDA may pull your favorite cough or cold medicine off the market.

Phenylephrine. Have you heard of this stuff? It's a widely used ingredient in many cold and cough medicines that are available without a prescription. We're talking products like cold and cough versions of Advil, NyQuil, Sudafed, Robitussin, Tylenol, Theraflu. and more. 

For more than a year, the FDA has been deciding what to do about these products because they believe phenylephrine doesn't actually provide any kind of therapeutic benefit to anyone who has a cough or a cold. 

According to cbsnews.com,
‘Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a news release "Based on our review of available data, and consistent with the advice of the advisory committee, we are taking this next step in the process to propose removing oral phenylephrine because it is not effective as a nasal decongestant," 

The FDA would like to remove all over the counter cough and cold medications that contain phenylephrine and they want to do it before the end of next year. 

The interesting part of this whole process is that it's not a done deal yet. The FDA has decided to ask for public commentary on the proposal and they will be accepting that public commentary up to May 7th of next year. 

On the other side of this issue is The Consumer Healthcare Products Association who believe that these products should be left alone and not changed or removed from the shelves because “Americans deserve the option to choose the safe and effective OTC medicines they prefer and rely on," 

Now, I don't really have a dog in this fight, but it seems to me if the FTC has determined that this “ingredient” has no therapeutic effect then maybe we should not be putting it in our bodies. I haven't used an over-the-counter cough or cold medicine since I was a teenager. 

If using Robitussin when you get a cold makes you feel better, keep using it.  

I don't think you'll notice when they remove phenylephrine from the product. 

FDA to pull common but ineffective cold medicine from market - CBS News
FDA determination that phenylephrine doesn't work could see Dayquil, Sudafed and other common drugs disappear from store shelves - CBS News
FDA Proposes Ending Use of Oral Phenylephrine as OTC Monograph Nasal Decongestant Active Ingredient After Extensive Review | FDA