On a shelf, behind the counter of this Parisian pharmacy, the boxes of Actifed Rhume, Humex Rhume, Nurofen Rhume, Dolirhume or Rhinadvil Rhume, are still there, inaccessible to customers but clearly visible. “Here, we defend responsible medication, underlines the holder. We support, we advise, we advise against… But we are not asked, at this stage by the authorities, to prohibit treatments which decongest the nose. » Another pharmacy, another message, again under cover of anonymity: in this pharmacy near Dijon, the manager decided to store all the boxes of vasoconstrictors in a cupboard, out of sight of the increasing number of customers with colds. to push open his door. “We offer something else as an alternative, he said, nose washes for example. »
Many patients are aware of the alert relating to vasoconstrictors based on pseudoephedrine – a molecule which constricts blood vessels – administered orally, launched Monday October 23 by the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM). Others are not yet or “go beyond”, reports a pharmacist from the capital: “Some people ask me “something for colds” but “not what they talk about on TV”; others want precisely these products that they can buy without a prescription and without going to the doctor. »
This is not the first time that these treatments – also sold as nasal sprays, but by prescription – have worried stakeholders and health authorities because of the serious, admittedly rare, side effects that they can cause, including strokes. cerebral (stroke) and myocardial infarction.
The ANSM took a step forward on Monday by explicitly recommending against the use of pseudoephedrine orally, in a press release co-signed with the College of General Medicine, the National Professional ENT Council, the National Order of Pharmacists and community pharmacists’ unions. “The cold heals spontaneously in seven to ten days,” recall this text.
“Pharmacists have been applying the precautionary principle for years and conveying the same message: as these vasoconstrictor treatments do not cure, as the side effects and risks are high, we can do without them,” reports Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France. “We have alternatives: hygiene measures, nose washing, inhalations… But also in front of us, sometimes, people who ask for these tablets and nothing else,” because the decongestant effect is rapid, they say, and it allows them to “succeed in sleeping” or” to go to work “.
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