Certain drugs commonly used to unblock the nose and treat colds are no longer recommended in their oral form. They are suspected of causing heart attacks and strokes, warns the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines.
On Monday, the French agency for the safety of medicines (ANSM) renewed its warning regarding the use of cold tablets, containing a molecule called pseudoephedrine.
This includes tablets such as Actifed, Dolirhume, Nurofen Rhume, Humex and Rhinadvil, traditional winter drugs that are sold in pharmacies. Last year, three million boxes were sold in France.
"When you have a cold, your blood vessels dilate and your mucous membranes expand. And vasoconstrictors are there to reduce this volume and relieve congestion. So they provide relief when you've got a cold," explained Christelle Ratignier-Carbonneil, a doctor at the ANSM, on franceinfo.
Health risks
These medicines are sold in pharmacies, without any prescription, usually not on the shelves but behind the counter. They have the effect of decongesting the nose. They are effective but are now suspected of increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
"The risk is very low, but these events can occur regardless of the dose and duration of treatment", stresses the ANSM.
These are rare cases, with only a handful reported each year in France but the French medicines safety agency considers that the risk is too big for a simple blocked nose.
In practice, it cannot ban them or suspend their marketing. That's for Europe to do so, and the European Union is currently looking into the matter.
But as of now, France is asking pharmacists to stop promoting them in their pharmacies and to advise against them.
Vasoconstrictors in the form of nasal sprays are not concerned. They are already regulated.
