Some cold and flu medicines are being taken off the shelves as a precaution amid concerns over "very rare" cases of severe allergic reaction to an ingredient in the products. All medicines with the ingredient pholcodine are being withdrawn from sale in the UK following a review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Products including Covonia, Day and Night Nurse and Boots dry cough syrup are among the medicines that are being urgently taken off the shelves. The review found the benefits of flu, cough and cold medicines containing pholcodine "do not outweigh the increased risk of the very rare event of anaphylaxis".
Pholcodine is an opioid medicine that has been used as a cough suppressant for adults and children since the 1950s. But there is reportedly a small risk that some users may have a bad allergic reaction if they later go for surgery and need a general anaesthetic that involves the use of a muscle relaxant or "neuromuscular blocking agent" (NMBA), the BBC reports.
Because of a "lack of identifiable effective measures to minimise the increased risk of anaphylactic reactions to NMBAs", all medicines that contain pholcodine are being taken off the shelves as a precaution and will no longer be available in pharmacies.
Healthcare professionals including pharmacists are being advised to stop selling them immediately and quarantine all stock before returning them to the supplier. They should offer patients an "appropriate treatment alternative" if they present with cough, cold or flu symptoms.
Patients who are taking cough medicines, including tablets and syrups, are advised to check the packaging or leaflet to see if pholcodine is a listed ingredient. If it is, you should speak to a pharmacist about an alternative treatment.
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Tell your anaesthetist before you have surgery if you think you have taken pholcodine, particularly in the past 12 months, or think you may have taken a pholcodine-containing product.
The medicines being recalled include:
- Boots Night Cough Relief Oral Solution
- Boots Dry Cough Syrup 6 Years+
- Boots Day Cold & Flu Relief Oral Solution
- Cofsed Linctus
- Care Pholcodine 5mg/5ml Oral Solution Sugar Free
- Galenphol Linctus
- Galenphol Paediatric Linctus
- Galenphol Strong Linctus
- Covonia Dry Cough Sugar Free Formula
- Pholcodine Linctus Bells Healthcare 5mg Per 5ml Oral Solution
- Numark Pholcodine 5mg per 5ml Oral Solution
- Well Pharmaceuticals Pholcodine 5mg per 5ml Oral Solution
- Superdrug Pholcodine Linctus BP
- Strong Pholcodine Linctus BP
- Pholcodine Linctus BP
- Strong Pholcodine Linctus BP
Pholcodine Linctus
Day & Night Nurse Capsules
Day Nurse Capsules
Day Nurse
