Pholcodine reassurance
May 7, 2013
THE Australian Self Medication
Industry this morning moved to
reassure consumers that cough
medicines and lozenges containing
pholcodine can continue to be
used, as directed, for the treatment
of non-productive cough.
It follows recent media coverage
of calls by an allergy group calling
for restrictions on the availability
of pholcodine-containing cough
medicines, on the basis that a
small group of patients may be at
increased risk of anaphylaxis when
using neuromuscular blocking
agents for some types of surgeries.
ASMI Scientific and Regulatory
Affairs Director, Steve Scarff, said
the organisation is concerned that
the statements may cause “undue
alarm and confusion,” with no new
risks identified for pholcodine.
“This issue is around immune
sensitivity to unrelated chemicals
and does not relate to a drug
interaction,” he said.
“Pholcodine has been used as
a cough suppressant since the
1950s. It has an established safety
profile and remains an efficacious
pharmacy-only cough suppressant
option,” Scarff added.
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