In its latest opinion, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) warned of the adverse effects associated with excessive and prolonged consumption of drugs combining codeine and ibuprofen. This combination can lead to serious kidney damage.
- Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory while codeine is an opioid. These medications reduce pain related to pathologies, injuries or trauma.
- The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recently warned of the harmful effects of the combination of ibuprofen and codeine.
“Codeine-ibuprofen is a combination of two drugs, an opioid (codeine) and an anti-inflammatory (ibuprofen), which are used to treat pain. Repeated use of codeine with ibuprofen may lead to dependence (addiction) and abuse due to the codeine component”warned the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in a statement published on September 30.
Codeine-ibuprofen combination: serious kidney damage
To reach this conclusion, the Pharmacovigilance Risk Committee (PRAC) has studied several cases of renal, gastrointestinal and metabolic toxicity which have been linked to abuse and dependence of the combination codeine and ibuprofen. Some patients have died as a result of this frequent and repeated drug combination.
Codeine and ibuprofen can cause kidney damage when taken in higher doses than recommended and/or for a prolonged period. This combination prevents the kidneys from properly eliminating acids from the blood in the urine, in other words renal tubular acidosis.
This kidney dysfunction can also cause very low potassium levels in the blood. Called hypokalemia, this complication can cause symptoms like muscle weakness and dizziness. “Therefore, renal tubular acidosis and hypokalemia will be added on products as new side effects”can we read in the EMA document.
An alert against the serious effects of the codeine-ibuprofen combination
In the opinion, the PRAC also called for a warning against harmful effects, including death, of combination medicines of codeine and ibuprofen, especially when taken over prolonged periods at doses higher than recommended.
“The PRAC also noted that certain medicines containing codeine together with ibuprofen are available without a medical prescription in the European Union. As most of these cases have been reported in countries where these medicines are available without a prescription, the PRAC considered that the most effective risk minimization measure would be to supply these medicines only on prescription in order to mitigate the harms associated with the abuse and dependence of these products. advocated the organization.
