Brits today hit out at the decision to ban popular cold and flu medicines over fears they could trigger deadly allergic reactions.
Twenty products are being urgently withdrawn, including ones made by Day & Night Nurse and Covonia — as well as own-brand versions on sale in Boots and Superdrug.
Patients who take remedies containing pholcodine within a year of being put under general anaesthetic are at an increased risk of suffering a ‘very rare’ life-threatening side effect, a review by the UK’s medicines regulator found.
Yet health bosses admitted the complication from the opioid, which has been used as a cough suppressant since the 1950s, is extremely rare.
Brits labelled the move a ‘ludicrous over-reaction’ and urged regulators to let people ‘make their own decisions’.
Twenty cold and flu products are being withdrawn in the UK, including some of those made by Day & Night Nurse and Covonia — as well as own-brand versions sold in Boots (pictured)
Ben Jephcott, from Shrewsbury, said that the decision to ban pholcodine, which he says is ‘safe and actually works’, is a ‘ludicrous over-reaction’
Another Twitter user, Sandy Karenso, said pholcodine is ‘absolutely the best cough remedy’. She urged health chiefs to ‘leave us alone’ and ‘let us make our own decisions’
Ben Jephcott, from Shrewsbury, said that the decision to ban pholcodine, which he says ‘actually works’, is a ‘ludicrous over-reaction’.
He called for a national ‘Save our Cough Mixture campaign’ in a bid to reverse the decision.
Another Twitter user, Sandy Karenso, said pholcodine is ‘absolutely the best cough remedy’. She urged health chiefs to ‘leave us alone’ and ‘let us make our own decisions’.
It comes after the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which polices the safety of drugs used in Britain, yesterday confirmed that it is recalling any medicines that contain pholcodine as a precaution.
The opioid works by suppressing cough reflexes by reducing the nerve signals sent from the brain to the muscles involved in coughing.
But the Commission on Human Medicine (CHM) — an MHRA committee which advises on the safety of medicines — flagged concerns among patients who took the drug ahead of being put under general anaesthetic with neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs).
NMBAs are used in around half of general anaesthetics administered in the UK to relax the muscles before some operations.
One use is when a patient needs to be intubated, with the NMBA paralysing or relaxing the jaw and the vocal cords.
Those who took pholcodine in the 12 months before being exposed to NMBAs were at increased risk of having a life-threatening allergic reaction, called anaphylaxis.
This causes a patient’s blood pressure to drop and their airways to narrow, blocking breathing. It can be life-threatening without immediate treatment.
The CHM admitted that ‘the absolute risk of anaphylaxis remains very small in patients who have taken pholcodine’.
Currently the risk it is thought to affect only around one in 10,000 procedures, with many doctors never encountering the reaction in their entire career.
Bosses at the European Medicines Agency also recommended the products’ withdrawal from the EU market in December last year following similar concerns.
And two weeks ago, Australia issued a national recall for 55 medicines containing pholcodine on the same grounds. Health chiefs said it was aware of 50 cases of this anaphylactic shock during general anaesthesia that were linked with pholcodine, including one death.
No comparable figures have been released for the UK.
In the UK, the affected products, which include Day & Night Nurse Capsules, Boots Night Cough Relief Oral Solution and Superdrug Pholcodine Linctus, will no longer be available in pharmacies.
Brits taking tablets or syrups for a cough have been told to check the packaging, label or information leaflet to see if pholcodine is a listed ingredient.
In the UK, the affected products, which include Day & Night Nurse Capsules, Boots Night Cough Relief Oral Solution and Superdrug Pholcodine Linctus, will no longer be available in pharmacies
If it is, they can talk to their pharmacists who can suggest a different medicine.
They have also been advised to tell an anaesthetist before surgery if they have taken a medicine containing pholcodine in the previous 12 months.
Despite the MHRA warning that the potential risk of taking medicines containing pholcodine outweighs the benefits, desperate Brits have scrambled in a bid to grab the few options still for sale.
Online pharmacies displayed ‘out of stock’ messages, while others including Boots, reported ‘stock coming soon’.
Patients took to social media to complain of issues getting hold of depleted stocks of medication.
One woman reacting to the news tweeted: ‘This is outrageous. I’ve had trouble getting Day Nurse and Night Nurse for months so it isn’t new.’
Meanwhile, another wrote: ‘Day and Night Nurse being withdrawn from the U.K. market is actually quite sad, it’s the only medicine that has been touching the sides with this never ending cold I currently have. It’s been so hard to get hold of recently too.’
Another wrote: ‘What, always take night nurse! Never had a problem! Need to stock up!!’, one tweeted.
One said: ‘Utterly ridiculous. Been available for years, works like a charm too. Day and night nurse are great. Hope they’re back on the shelves soon.’
