Cough syrups will soon be banned in France. A decision of the Medicines Agency. To what risks do these syrups expose? What to do if you have these syrups at home?
Significant risk of severe allergy
Certain cough syrups, containing pholcodinecould be hanging in France and recalled in September. The cause: a “significant risk” of serious allergy during general anesthesia. A recommendation from the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM). Pholcodine is synthesized from opium. It is used in case of dry, irritating cough.
What are the syrups concerned?
The syrups concerned are only dispensed on prescription. Those are :
- Dimetane without sugar (Biocodex),
- Biocalyptol and Biocalyptol without sugar (Zambon),
- Pholcodine (Biogaran).
Reminder of these syrups in September
The ANSM judges the “report benefit-risk unfavorable» of these syrups because the risk allergy in case of general anesthesia are too important. On the other hand, there are other effective cough syrups without pholcodine. “As a result, we plan to to suspend marketing authorizations in France for cough syrups based on pholcodine and to carry out a reminder of all these syrups beginning of september“.
What to do if you have this syrup at home?
If you use or have already used a cough syrup containing pholcodine, “there is no particular monitoring recommended at the present time”, explains the Medicines Agency.
If you have a operation programmed with General anaesthesialet him know doctor anesthetist that you are taking or have taken this medicine. Indeed, the allergic risk persists Several weeks after using the syrup.
Source: National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products, ANSM, 1er September 2022.