NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee is one of the worst states in the country for allergies, and thousands more battle colds each year.
To get some relief, you might turn to medicine like Sudafed or DayQuil.
But the FDA now says the active ingredient in some popular versions of those medications doesn't work.
The FDA says the drug in question is found in pills taken for colds and allergies. It's a decongestant called phenylephrine.
While the FDA says the drug isn't dangerous, they also say it doesn't work in pill form because not enough of the active ingredient gets into the nasal passages, confirming what pharmacist Dr. Shawn Pruitt says he's heard anecdotally for years.
"I tend to listen to my patients and they've said it doesn't give them relief like Sudafed does," said Dr. Shawn Pruitt of Pruitt's Pharmacy in Nashville.
The decongestants at issue became more popular in the 2000s, after a spike in people using an older drug, pseudoephedrine, as an ingredient in meth.
Pharmacists now expect a resurgence in pseudoephedrine sales, which are limited per person, and tracked in a statewide log.
The FDA must still decide whether medicines containing phenylephrine should come off store shelves.
