EMA pulls an opi­oid from the 1950s used to treat dry cough

The Eu­ro­pean Med­i­cines Agency said Fri­day that it’s pulling from all Eu­ro­pean mar­kets phol­co­dine-con­tain­ing med­i­cines, which are an opi­oid used in adults and chil­dren for the treat­ment of dry cough and in com­bo with oth­er drugs as a treat­ment for cold and flu.

The de­ci­sion to pull the med­i­cines comes as the EMA points to the re­sults from the re­cent ALPHO study, which show that use of phol­co­dine dur­ing the 12 months pre­ced­ing anes­the­sia is linked to a risk of an ana­phy­lac­tic re­ac­tion re­lat­ed to the neu­ro­mus­cu­lar block­ing agents (NM­BAs) used (with an ad­just­ed OR of 4.2, and a 95% con­fi­dence in­ter­val of 2.5 to 6.9).

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER