A Pensacola law firm is the first to file a national class action lawsuit the same week the Federal Drug Administration determined a decongestant ingredient in hundreds of over-the-counter medicine is ineffective.
Phenylephrine is in medicines like Sudafed, Vicks Sinex Severe, Nyquil and Benadryl. An FDA panel of experts looked at new data from recent studies showing many nasal decongestants are useless.
“These newer studies using better technology, better design have found that phenylephrine or decongestents containing phenylephrine are no more effective than the placebo and so a placebo is just a sugar pill, right, it’s a pill that provides no benefit,” attorney Dan Thornburgh said.
Pensacola Law Firm, Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, filed a class action against Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble and more to come.
“We filed the first national class action against a number of these companies who are making billions of dollars over a drug that was worthless,” Thornburgh said.
With this action, the attorneys also want to send a strong message to all corporations.
“Don’t be so greedy that you forget about taking care of your customer,” Thornburgh said. “It’s a really important tool to check corporations and make sure corporations don’t get away with selling snake oil.”
If there’s a settlement or a verdict against the companies, consumers would have the chance to file a claim and recoup their money.
In the interest of fairness, WKRG News 5 reached out to Johnson & Johnson and Proctor & Gamble to get a comment for this story, but we’re still waiting on a response.