FDA recommends stopping use of popular cold medicine decongestant

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, proposed eliminating oral phenylephrine, widely used in cold and cough syrups as the active ingredient in over-the-counter medications to treat nasal congestion.

The health regulator said an agency review of available data determined that oral phenylephrine is not effective in relieving nasal congestion.

Last year, a panel of outside experts voted unanimously against the effectiveness of oral phenylephrine as a nasal decongestant, adding that more trials were not needed to prove the opposite.

Oral phenylephrine is the main ingredient in popular products such as Benadryl, Advil and Tylenol.

For now, the company may continue to market drugs containing the ingredient as nasal decongestants, the FDA said.