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CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

arstechnica.com

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Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#11

Post by tasty_freeze »

WirelessGigabit wrote: post #2

Wishful thinking, but next up should be homeopathic snake-oil. No company should have a homeopathic product sitting on the shelf next to an actual medicine.

I was at a Walgreens years ago and there was a rack of impulse-buy items at the checkout counter. One of them was a homeopathic cold "remedy." I had the same thought as you -- Walgreens is hurting their reputation as a trustworthy pharmacy, but then I realized that behind the counter was a wall of cigarettes. That resolved the tension for me: if they are willing to sell cancer causing agents, selling homeopathic meds is tame in comparison. Their goal, of course, is to make money, not to make you better.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#12

Post by a2tech »

junon wrote: post #4

I'm more surprised Sudafed was shown as an OTC. Isn't that one of the ingredients in meth? Not really the subject of the article but it struck me as odd.

You can still get it over the counter, but you have to ask at the counter for it

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#13

Post by striking »

junon wrote: post #4

I'm more surprised Sudafed was shown as an OTC. Isn't that one of the ingredients in meth? Not really the subject of the article but it struck me as odd.

There's the Sudafed on the shelves, made with phenylephrine, and the Sudafed behind the counter, made with pseudoephedrine. (Technically both OTC.)

The Sudafed behind the counter actually works (really really well), but due to what you've described, you need to present ID and affirm that you'll abide by certain federal laws. Oh, and there's a low hard limit on how much you can buy at a time, which is fine if it's just you in your household but not so fine if absurd levels of congestion run in the family and you all live together.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#14

Post by strifey »

barney54 wrote: post #5
junon wrote: post #4

I'm more surprised Sudafed was shown as an OTC. Isn't that one of the ingredients in meth? Not really the subject of the article but it struck me as odd.

Not real Sudafed. Real Sudafed isn’t OTC because it is pseudoephedrine—in fact that’s where Sudafed got its name.

Real sudafed is OTC, you just need to ask for it at the counter. No prescription is required. They just don't have it on shelves, because they require you to show your ID when purchasing it. I'm assuming this is so they can track how much a person is buying to track people who are using it for illicit purposes.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#16

Post by DangitBobby »

WirelessGigabit wrote: post #2

Wishful thinking, but next up should be homeopathic snake-oil. No company should have a homeopathic product sitting on the shelf next to an actual medicine.

This is what the entire latter 2/3 of the article is about.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#17

Post by gwern »

techsupporter wrote: post #8

And this means we're going to have an easier time buying the stuff that works...right? ...right?

You will have an easier time inasmuch as you will no longer think, as almost everyone did, that your purchase of phenylephrine is adequate. The hardest pseudoephedrine to buy is the one you don't think you need.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#18

Post by tptacek »

techsupporter wrote: post #8

And this means we're going to have an easier time buying the stuff that works...right? ...right?

It's already easy to buy the stuff that works. You just have to go up to the counter and ask. You have to show ID, just like you do for liquor (and, because purchases of psuedoephedrine are rate-limited, they're going to log your purchase). You'll need to get over that, because I don't think the rate limit is going anywhere: psuedoephedrine essentially is methamphetamine, and it's the worst conceivable kind: the kind that you obtain by constructing horrible hazmat labs in garages, mobile homes, and apartments.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#19

Post by aug_aug »

delecti wrote: post #7
junon wrote: post #4

I'm more surprised Sudafed was shown as an OTC. Isn't that one of the ingredients in meth? Not really the subject of the article but it struck me as odd.

Sudafed (edit: also ) makes (or at least made) products with phenylephrine, the useless drug in question. Those products don't contain pseudoephedrine, which can indeed be used as a precursor to making meth. Edit: I did not say that Sudafed did not also make products containing pseudoephedrine. They do, obviously, it's where their name comes from. They just also make products with useless phenylephrine.

Actually, Sudafed continues(d?) to make both, you just have to ask for the one with pseudoephedrine which is usually locked behind the counter. Not a meth chef here, but do I have allergies and get migraines, the only thing that seems to help is pseudoephedrine. When they introduced this crap however long ago I could immediately tell it did nothing compared to the 'original' version. Not surprised at all by this revelation/confirmation years later.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#20

Post by Sebguer »

declan_roberts wrote: post #15
MBCook wrote: post #3

But they leave the homeopathic junk mixed in as if it was actual medicine.

[flagged]

Mostly because these companies are very rarely letting people make an informed choice. Though, random homeopathic remedies in the store are far from the leading culprit for this.
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