E-drug: Cough syrups (cont)
---------------------------------------------
Dear colleagues,
I remember from a similar discussion among drug registration agencies
many years ago that Joel's references are largely correct - There is
only one Scandinavian trial showing that acetylcysteine prevents to
a certain extent recurrences in chronic bronchitis. As to all the
others: Clinical pharmacological trials have mainly been performed
by instilling diluted citric acid down the throat in healthy
volunteers, thereby eliciting cough and then measuring the number of
expectorations during a certain period.
Even for the time-hallowed drug noscapine, evidence is marginal. All
other trials
in chronic bronchitis have been negative. And as to tbc: I have
treated such patients
myself and giving them cough suppressants is bad medicine, they have
to drain (mainly by mechanical means) their sputum. And then "old"
drugs like diphenhydramine and dextromethorfan: It has been said
that by inducing sleep in the child it gives more night rest to the
parents and therefore the drug is judged to be effective.
Let's not fool ourselves; it is a huge OTC market with large economic
value and it rarely causes harm. But they are not essential drugs.
Best regards.
Dr.L.Offerhaus
Koedijklaan 1a
NL-1406 KW Bussum
The Netherlands
Phone +31-35-6923288 Fax +31-35-6923277
"Dr.L.Offerhaus" <lo@euronet.nl>
[Let us close the discussion on cough mixtures for the present. BS]
--
To send a message to E-Drug, write to: e-drug@usa.healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe e-drug OR unsubscribe e-drug
To contact a person, send a message to: e-drug-help@usa.healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.healthnet.org/programs/edrug.html