Boosted DayQuil Now In Sugar Pill HOF

Allysia Finley calls out DayQuil, Covid Vaccine Boosters & FDA Science” for day late & dollar short mia cupas over medical fixes that don’t or may not work after all thanks to industry studies now shown to be flawed. “Sound familiar?” she asks.

The WSJ columnist didn’t hold back her incredulity: “If DayQuil never seemed to unstuff your nose, now you know why: Its core decongesting ingredient, phenylephrine, doesn’t work. That’s what a Food & Drug Administration advisory committee unanimously concluded … 16 years after researchers first told the agency that evidence from the 1960s & 70s purportedly demonstrating the ingredient’s efficacy was flawed. For decades, people have been taking what amounts to a placebo. But unlike a sugar pill, phenylephrine can cause lightheadedness, queasiness, headaches & a rapid heartbeat. What took the FDA so long to act?”

Dunno. Allysia also wonders out loud that maybe it has something to do with “typical bureaucratic inertia & reluctance to backtrack on ‘settled science.’” I’d also wonder if the FDA’s allegedly being in bed with pharma at times has colored its rosy glasses as well. Regardless of the cause, the agency’s belated backtracking is nothing new. For instance, Allysia notes, “This episode mirrors the debate over Covid boosters, which the FDA approved last week, the day before its advisory committee is ineffective. As was the case for phenylephrine, booster recommendations are based on flawed studies & extrapolations.” Well, the last point on “flimsy” and/or outdated booster efficacy evidence, especially for “low risk” folks, is being hotly debated right now. But, Allysia’s main point & conclusion is spot on: “Questioning the ‘science’ is how science [is SUPPOSED to] work,” but too often is suppressed for whatever reason.

Davd Soul