The U.S. FDA agency (Food and Drug Administration) plans to withdraw 500 unauthorized drugs from the market, used in essence to treat the symptoms of colds and allergies; they could pose risks to the general public, the federal agency said Wednesday, quoted by AFP.
“We don’t know what they contain, whether they are safe and if they are effective”, said Deborah Autor, director of the Office of the drug evaluation and research within the FDA in a telephone news conference.
FDA has published a list of 500 drugs that are available on prescription and indicated that their manufacturers have 90 days to discontinue the production and stop the delivery in 180 days. “Nearly all these drugs” are produced in the U.S., said Deborah Autor.
“We believe that there are doctors who still prescribe these medicines,” she added, indicating that some drugs appear in the reference medical catalogs and advertising in specialized journals. Among the best known of these drugs are Cardec, Organidin Londrane, and Pediahist, FDA stated.