Cold Medicines: Pharmaceutical Firms Cast A Chill on Corporate Responsibility

Some pharmaceutical companies can talk all they want about corporate responsibility, but their recent actions regarding children’s cold medicines make their words seem hollow.

An Associated Press story noted that an advisory panel told the FDA on Friday that common children’s cold medicines like Wyeth’s Dimetapp and Robitussin, Novartis’ Triaminic, and Johnson & Johnson’s Pediacare and children’s Tylenol, shouldn’t be used by kids under six years old because there is scant evidence that they work and there have been instances of overdoses.

The FDA isn’t obligated to follow advisory panels’ recommendations, but the agency often goes along.

The issue raises several questions, and blame should not merely be leveled at the drug companies. The FDA has shown all-too-many times that it has a cozy relationship with an industry that it is supposed to regulate.

So, one has to ask why did the FDA permit the longstanding sales of these over-the-counter medicines for kids if there is no hard evidence that they stop the sniffles or otherwise relieve cold symptoms? Why did the FDA approve these medicines in the first place?

And, why did the supposedly corporately responsible pharmaceutical firms put untold millions of marketing dollars into convincing parents to buy these medicines if there isn’t hard evidence that they cure anything?

Major drug firms that manufacture these medicines initiated a voluntary recall Oct. 11 of those cold remedies used for kids under two, but they still are fighting  the recommendation that the ban be extended to kids under six.

They will fight the under-six ban until they are forced to cave in. They followed that pattern with the recall for kids under two.

For example, the industry trade organization, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association opposed a recall on cold medicines for kids under two as late as Oct. 2, only to have its members "voluntarily" withdraw these medicines a little more than a week later when the negative press became too great.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies will continue to market themselves as great corporate citizens. Wyeth, for instance, will continue to publish citizenship reports, highlighting its commitment "to leading the way to a healthier world."