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The combination of influenza, Covid, and respiratory viruses creates a disastrous cocktail of winter illnesses that will allow the whole world to ring in the new year.
This is good news for pharmaceutical companies selling over-the-counter cold remedies, but bad news for local pharmacy shelves, which are increasingly short of Theraflu, NyQuil and Tylenol. The disappointment of flu patients not being able to prescribe medication is unlikely to be ameliorated by medical experts’ recent declaration that most decongestant therapies are utterly useless.
another kind of lift
Globally, rates of both Covid-19 and influenza have surged in recent weeks, according to a World Health Organization report. We have identified cases, up significantly from an estimated 9 million last year. Adding bacteria to the pool eases his Covid restrictions that have made him a breeding ground for fevers, runny noses and sore throats on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Throwing RSV into the mix starts 2023 with a big cough.
Haleon and Reckitt, makers of Robitussin and Lemsip, respectively, reported third-quarter sales growth, pointing to consumers stocking up in the fourth quarter as well.Thank you [eyeroll] Haleon’s respiratory medicines brought in $480 million in the third quarter of 2022, a 30% jump year-over-year. However, with the increase in sales of these, there will also be shortages.
- Parents struggle to find medicines for their children. In his four weeks to Dec. 3, U.S. cough medicine and throat spray sales increased 35% and 56% year-over-year, respectively. And soon, CVS and Walgreens began restricting the sale of these drugs.
- The WHO recently reported severe shortages of antibiotics such as penicillin and amoxicillin around the world, highlighting unstable supply chains.
Achu! Before stopping your next shot of Theraflu, or popping another Benadryl, you might want to get your doctor’s opinion. is asking the Food and Drug Administration to stop selling certain OTC decongestants after multiple studies found they didn’t clear a stuffy nose. is it?” Eli Meltzer, an allergist, says: wall street journal“It’s a waste of money.”
– Griffin Kelly
