The specialized journal “Prescrire” has just unveiled the list of drugs to avoid in 2023, either because they are ineffective or because they could present a health hazard. Explanations.
If we use many drugs on a daily basis, as evidenced by our sometimes overflowing medicine boxes, not all of them are effective. Some can even be dangerous to our health. To enlighten us, the specialized journal Prescribe established every year for twelve years the list of drugs to avoid due to unfavorable risk-benefit. Thursday, December 1, the health professionals in charge of this list drew up a new report for the year 2023. In total, 107 drugs have been judged “more dangerous than useful in all the indications appearing in their MA [autorisation de mise sur le marché, ndlr]”whose 88 are marketed in Francereported The Midi Dispatch.
After fenfluramine (marketed under the drug Fintepla) and ulipristal (Esmya), which entered the list of drugs to be banned in 2022, Prescribe added three new drugs on its balance sheet for the year 2023. It is first of all the protein peanut (marketed under the drug Palforzia), mainly used in the context of a “desensitization in case of peanut allergy”. According to scientists, it would on the contrary tend to “increase the frequency of allergic reactions in daily life”.
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Some drugs need to be “re-evaluated”
Then we find the roxadustat (marketed as Evrenzo), used to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney failure. According Prescribehe “is no more effective overall than epoetins in correcting anemia, whereas it appears to increase mortality in some patients and has a higher adverse effect profile”. Finally, the last new drug to avoid is tincture of opium (sold as the drug Dropizal), composed of various poppy constituents and generally used to cure “severe diarrhea”. However, according to the specialized journal, she would not have “of clinical advantage” noticeable compared to Loperamide, another opioid.
Finally, Iealth professionals have also added to the list this year the nintedaniba drug used to treat “certain non-small cell lung cancers” Where “certain chronic lung conditions”for which all risks had been ruled out in 2021. Alongside this, two drugs were removed from the blacklist of Prescribe in order to be reassessed: idebenone (Raxon) and the teriflunomide (Aubagio).