yesterday:
Phenylephrine for colds and allergies don’t work, FDA panel says
The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
11–20 of 350 posts
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
#12Probably will get downvoted for this, but a bunch of my family members are pharmacists. Their quiet opinion is that most pharmaceuticals don’t work. Even the ones that are thought effective. The data is anecdotal, but is over 15 years of watching people come in for prescriptions. The other aspect, is they say it’s mind boggling to see what kind of drugs people are on.
We now know that most published medical research findings are false. That likely includes many of the studies that the FDA relied upon to approve certain drugs.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
My impression is that the situation has been improving in recent years. Between study pre-registration, larger subject groups, and greater statistical rigor I have a lot more confidence that drugs getting approved now actually do what they say on the label. Of course, this is also part of the reason why it now costs >$1B to bring a new drug to market.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
#13Probably will get downvoted for this, but a bunch of my family members are pharmacists. Their quiet opinion is that most pharmaceuticals don’t work. Even the ones that are thought effective. The data is anecdotal, but is over 15 years of watching people come in for prescriptions. The other aspect, is they say it’s mind boggling to see what kind of drugs people are on.
Pharmacist here. Most pharmaceuticals do actually work but finding the right one for a patient can sometimes be harder than you would think. I suspect your family members are quiet about their opinions for a very good reason.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
#14Context: On Sept 12th 2023, an FDA panel (the NDAC) definitively voted to find phenylephrine ineffective: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/996369 Next will be re-assessing its GRASE status and potentially removing it from stores.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
#15It's never worked for me and I didn't understand why people bought these products.
They were marketed as working and have similar side effects as pseudoephedrine-based products. I’d think those would be pretty strong contributors to a placebo effect.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
#16Probably will get downvoted for this, but a bunch of my family members are pharmacists. Their quiet opinion is that most pharmaceuticals don’t work. Even the ones that are thought effective. The data is anecdotal, but is over 15 years of watching people come in for prescriptions. The other aspect, is they say it’s mind boggling to see what kind of drugs people are on.
It’s really difficult to untangle the placebo and nocebo effects. I was recently surprised to learn there are studies showing placebos can be effective even when people are told they are taking a placebo. Ie literally telling people, “take this pill every day, but please understand it’s a placebo and has no active ingredients whatsoever”. And yet, their symptoms improve. The theory is that the subconscious mind acts on some information (white-coated professional giving me a medicine) without being fully affected by the conscious mind’s knowledge that the pill ought to do nothing.
It’s even possible that the negative attitudes of your pharmacist family members toward the medications their patients are taking are affecting their efficacy!
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
#17The fact that phenylepherine is ineffective is quite old and has been common knowledge for many years. What is news is that the FDA is finally acknowledging it. I've maintained my own reserve of pseudoephedrine for years. https://gizmodo.com/report-many-over-the-counter-decongestan... https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2015/10/26/the-pop... https://www.newscientist.com/article/2089555-breaking-bad-sn...
> I've maintained my own reserve of pseudoephedrine for years.
Synthesizing it from widely-available and affordable street drugs, I assume.
https://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume19/v19i3/Pse...
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
#18phenylepherine is the otc version of pseudoephedrine, what Sudafed was originally created with. If you need Sudafed that works, go to the phamacist and ask for "real sudafed". You might have to scan your ID if you live in certain states and you actually need a Rx if you're in Oregon (lol), but for most free states you're good to just purchase it at the counter.
They changed that last year: https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/politics/2022/01...
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
#19[flagged]
that wasn't a decision informed by any kind of research
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine (2022)
#20phenylepherine is the otc version of pseudoephedrine, what Sudafed was originally created with. If you need Sudafed that works, go to the phamacist and ask for "real sudafed". You might have to scan your ID if you live in certain states and you actually need a Rx if you're in Oregon (lol), but for most free states you're good to just purchase it at the counter.
Oregon no longer requires a prescription since 2022.