93 drugs are more dangerous than useful in 2021 according to Prescribe

For the ninth consecutive year, the medical journal To prescribe just released her drug list “to avoid” due to their potentially negative effects “tombs” on patients.

This year, 112 drugs are on this blacklist, of which 93 are marketed in France. As detailed To prescribe, they may be older drugs whose effects are now outweighed by newer drugs, which have a more favorable “benefit-risk” balance. But the list also covers recent drugs whose effectiveness has not been proven and which may pose health risks to patients. “disproportionate”.

According to Prescendere, the drugs on this blacklist are “causes of death, hospitalization or serious or very troublesome adverse effects, largely avoidable”.

Propecia and Nootropyl have been identified

Among the newcomers on the list of To prescribe, “finasteride 1 mg” is found. Marketed as Propecia to prevent moderate hair loss in men. According to the Medicines Agency (ANSM), this molecule can cause psychiatric disorders (anxiety, depression), ejaculation disorders and decreased sexual desire.

To prescribe also reports unwanted side effects of the vasodilator piracetam (Nootropyl and generics), prescribed for various indications including dizziness and as an adjunct treatment for minor cognitive impairments associated with aging.

Not necessarily “future choices”

In addition, three other drugs are noted that show some effectiveness but can cause disproportionate side effects or for which other less dangerous options. It is esketamine (Spravato) nasal spray “of very uncertain efficacy” against depression resistant to antidepressants. Not marketed in France, Pimecrolimus (Elidel) prescribed for atopic eczema is thought to increase the risk of skin cancer and lymphoma. Finally, the third drug reported is romosozumab (Evenity, not marketed in France) for severe osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Among the drugs to be excluded there are also a dozen drugs of the gliflozin family, prescribed for diabetes.

To prescribe he specifies, however, that the drugs on his list are not “Not necessarily a future Mediator, at the center of scandals and trials (…) Especially if all health players react in time”.