It is a must-have in French medicine cabinets. Ibuprofen 400 mg, an anti-inflammatory commonly consumed in cases of pain or fever and available without a prescription, will be banned from advertising to the general public from April 2, the National Agency announced this Thursday, February 8. safety of medicines and health products (ANSM).
It will therefore no longer be possible to promote it “ in newspapers, on television, on websites or in any other mainstream media », details the ANSM, which specifies that the measure only targets ibuprofen dosed at 400 mg, the strongest version currently authorized for sale, and whose misuse is increasingly frequent according to the authority health.
The recommendations for good use in force recommend, in the event of treatment, to first favor taking ibuprofen dosed at 200 mg, rather than that at 400 mg, in order to reduce the risk of side effects. But the advertisements for boxes containing 400 mg “ were not likely to encourage patients to start with the lowest dose »notes the medicine policeman, who has therefore decided to ban these commercial communications.
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“Reports of serious adverse effects related to the dose of ibuprofen, including gastrodigestive bleeding and kidney damage, have increased in parallel with the number of advertisements to the general public in favor of ibuprofen 400 mg”justifies the health authority, which nevertheless emphasizes that the measure does not call into question the effectiveness and safety of these products when they are correctly used by patients.
Currently, around fifteen laboratories market ibuprofen 400 mg in France under different brand names (Advil 400, Nurofen 400, Spedifen 400, etc.). The 400 mg dosage is also the most popular version of the drug. In 2022, around 30 million boxes of 400 mg ibuprofen were sold in France, compared to barely 4 million in the 200 mg dosage.
This is not the first measure targeting ibuprofen. In 2019, in order to avoid the misuse of these medications, the health authority had already decided to restrict access to them by passing them behind the pharmacist’s counter, thus forcing patients who wish to obtain them to request it from the pharmacy staff.