Drugs for colds do not help children, a review states

A review by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said that many cold medicines given to children have little effect on curing them.

The MHRA said new evidence about how youngsters’ bodies reacted to medicine meant that 36 over-the-counter medicines should no longer be sold to those under the age of six.

The regulator stressed that there were no safety concerns with the drugs, adding that the move was being taken due to a change of view from the experts.

MHRA spokesman Jeremy Mean told the BBC: “Many years ago it was thought that we could use adult doses in a watered down way but we now know that children’s bodies are different.”

The MHRA said parents could continue to give their children the drugs if they felt it helped but recommended paracetamol, ibuprofen, warm lemon and honey to be used to treat the common cold.

The Propriety Association of Great Britain (PAGB) said it would no longer market these products to children under the age of six and has said that it would comply with requirements regarding new labelling for medicines.