European Medicines Agency Committee Starts Safety Review of Cold Medicines

A European Medicines Agency (EMA) committee said on Friday it has started a review of decongestant medicines for cold and flu that contain the ingredient pseudoephedrine following safety concerns.

The EMA said the review was due to reports of conditions affecting blood vessels in the brain in some patients who took pseudoephedrine-containing medicines.

Pseudoephedrine is a drug that is used alone or in combination with other medicines to treat a blocked nose due to cold, flu or allergy.

Makers of pseudoephedrine-containing drugs include Reckitt Benckiser, McNeil Products Ltd and Organon & Co.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; editing by Shounak Dasgupta)