These 112 drugs will be phased out in 2021

Andrey Shevchuk via Getty Images

MEDICINES – The review To prescribe presented on Thursday November 26 its new list of a hundred “more dangerous than useful” drugs, to be avoided due to the “disproportionate” health risks they pose to patients, with newcomers such as Propecia against baldness male.

Among those added to this blacklist this year, there are two drugs that expose unwanted effects “disproportionate” to their poor efficacy or the benignity of the disorders treated.

This is the case of the famous drug against moderate hair loss in men, “finasteride 1 mg” (Propecia and generics).

The ANSM Medicines Agency has already warned about the risks of psychiatric (anxiety, depression) and sexual disorders (including ejaculation disorders and decreased libido) that should lead to the suspension of this anti-baldness treatment.

Also featured: piracetam (Nootropyl and generics), a “vasodilator” authorized in various indications including dizziness, and as an adjunct treatment for minor chronic disorders (cognitive or sensorineural) related to aging.

There are three other drugs, which have some effectiveness, but with disproportionate side effects or for which there are other less dangerous options.

Escametamine, pimecrolimus, romosozumab

It is esketamine (Spravato) nasal spray “with very uncertain efficacy” against depressions resistant to antidepressants; pimecrolimus (Elidel not marketed in France) against atopic eczema, but with an increased risk of skin cancer and lymphoma. The third 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, against diabetes.

Sore throat, cough, cold … other products not recommended in previous years are still high on the list.

The 2021 list – to be discovered in full by clicking here – covers 112 drugs, 93 of which are marketed in France, he explains To prescribe.

The drugs on this list are “causes of death, hospitalization, or serious or very troublesome, largely avoidable, harmful effects,” assures the review. However, they are not “necessarily future ‘Mediators’, at the center of scandals and trials (…). Especially if all health actors react in time, ”he stresses.

See also on The HuffPost: A drug to control your dreams?