Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told Newsmax that the Food and Drug Administration "took a long time" to declare that a popular decongestant ingredient is ineffective.
The FDA announced this week that phenylephrine, found in many over-the-counter drugs such as Sudafed PE and Vicks NyQuil, is ineffective as a decongestant.
Harris, a medical doctor and a member of the GOP Doctors Caucus, reacted to the news of the FDA's findings during an appearance Thursday on "National Report."
"To be honest, the FDA is about 16 years too late," he said. "The same researchers who published the most recent study actually published a study back in 2007 showing that phenylephrine is not effective.
"The FDA took a long time; the original trials that approved phenylephrine were done by the drug companies."
Harris said that although the clinical trials "were authorized by the FDA," they were performed "by outside entities, and again, everyone out there who takes a product and needs a decongestant should be certain they're not using phenylephrine because it doesn't work. They should use pseudoephedrine-containing products."
Harris added: "People with high blood pressure, they should ask their physicians if they should take it, because both phenylephrine, the ineffective drug, and pseudoephedrine, the effective drug, both of them could cause an increase in blood pressure."
Harris also promised to ask FDA Commissioner Robert Califf "why it took the FDA so long to pull this product, because for people, for instance, who have sinusitis or problems or illnesses where decongestion is very important, it's essential that the medicines that you buy actually work."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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