Fervex, Humex, Actifed … Some brand names of too common drugs can be misleading for the French. The similarities are such that they can cause the patient to confuse certain drug uses and expose himself to health risks. This risk of confusion linked to a marketing strategy is pointed out in the latest edition of the Prescribe magazinerelease Thursday 25 January. The doctors and pharmacists who wrote this independent monthly stress that the diversity of brands sold in pharmacies masks the reality of very different treatments. For consumers, finding their way around can be an obstacle course without the advice of a pharmacist. The commercial principle of what practitioners call “umbrella ranges” is a source of error. What is it about ? This “consists in selling, under a common brand name, various specialties containing different active substances exposing to different dangers”, according to Prescrire, taken up by AFP. “This marketing strategy, based on brand recognition, exposes people to confusion between drugs and to ignorance of certain risks, for example drug interactions. The risks of errors are accentuated by similarities between specialties, with big and bold highlighting of the brand, “it is still written.
90 drugs “more dangerous than useful”
In addition, the review cites a list of 90 drugs still on the market in France or in the European Union which should be “excluded from care” on the grounds that they are “flagrant cases of drugs more dangerous than useful”. For these 90 drugs (including 79 marketed in France), the “balance-benefit-risk is unfavorable in all clinical situations for which they are authorized in France or in the European Union”, according to the monthly. Why should they be switched off? The review details: “these are active drugs, but which, given the clinical situation, expose them to disproportionate risks compared to the benefits they provide; old drugs whose use is outdated, because other drugs newer drugs have a more favorable benefit-risk balance; newer drugs, whose benefit-risk balance is less favorable than that of older drugs; drugs whose effectiveness is not proven beyond a placebo effect, and which expose them to particularly serious adverse effects “.
The list of these drugs is available free of charge on the Prescribe site.
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