FDA says many over-the-counter cold medicines basically useless

Think that OTC drug you bought for a few dollars recently will help you with nasal decongestion? Not according to the FDA, which said this week that studies of the ingredient phenylephrine have proven it to be ineffective in battling all those sniffles.

The FDA, in uncharacteristic public clarity, claimed that phenylephrine products are small, poorly designed and decades-old in terms of effectiveness for nasal congestion problems. In other words, they can't hold a candle to the ravages of the current nasal clogging that millions of us see each year. Why are these products sold and marketed like they are, then?

There is a reason. After the U.S. Congress enacted a law last year that made major OTC drugmakers Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and more change from the ingredient pseudo-ephedrine stock products containing that ingredient behind pharmacy shelves (as it can be used to manufacture the drug methamphetamine). Phenylephrine was the replacement, but now it's being discovered as basically useless. Nice.