Certain cough medicines may not work, a new report says.
photo by jesse kinos-goodin
Life Reporter
Humber pharmacy technician Margaret Woodruff says the findings of a new report questioning the effectiveness of over-the-counter cough medicine is not news to her.
“The news isn’t telling us what we haven’t known forever,” says Woodruff.
The medical report by the Cochrane Collaboration says common cough medicine might not help relieve a cough at all.
“There is no good evidence for or against the effectiveness of over-the-counter cough medicines,” says the report’s conclusion.
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international, not-for-profit organization that prepares scientific reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions.
The report examined 25 studies, including 17 on adults involving 2,876 people from around the world, and the effects of various cough medicines, including some which are available in Canada.
Gerry Harrington, director of public affairs for the Nonperscription Drug Manufacturers Association of Canada, says the report is deceiving because it fails to include any positive results the studies may have found.
“What has me concerned is the broad conclusion reached in the adult study,” says Harrington. “It is grotesquely oversimplifying.”
Woodruff says people should not expect cough medicine to provide any long-term relief.
“There is no cure for the common cold,” she says.