The US Food and Drug Administration announced a proposal to remove oral phenylephrine – a common ingredient in many popular over-the-counter decongestants – from the market, citing evidence that it doesn’t work.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing the removal from the market of a common ingredient found in most oral over-the-counter cold medicines because it doesn’t work.

(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed to remove oral phenylephrine, widely used in cold and cough syrups, as an active ingredient in over-the-counter drugs for nasal congestion,

More than a year after its advisory panel unanimously declared the drug phenylephrine to be useless against nasal congestion, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing that it be removed from common over-the-counter decongestants.