FDA rejects ban on children’s OTC cough and cold medicine

Late last year, the FDA pulled several infant cold and cough medicine off the shelves for potential misuse. The dosage information on the medicine labels were wrongly calculated based on age, not weight. Several children died because of over-medication from these products.

And then earlier this year, the agency warned against using over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for children under 2 years, and later to children up to 11 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics even weighed in that these drugs are ineffective for treating cough and cold, and so the FDA was urged to enforce a ban.

But the FDA has rejected a call to an immediate ban on cough and cold medicine, saying that the ban might drive parents to give adult medication to their children.

This is where it gets lost on me. If the dosage is wrong, and the drug is ineffective anyway, why is it still in the market?

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