Safety warnings and messages for medicines
In 2008, legal measures were introduced in the UK to manage the risk of misuse of cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine and ephedrine in the illegal manufacture of methylamphetamine (crystal meth). The measures included reduced pack sizes, and a tighter control on sales.
These measures have been reviewed yearly since 2008 (see MHRA Public Assessment Reports from 2009, 2010 and 2011), and were reviewed again in 2012.
As with previous reviews, the 2012 review concluded that the measures are continuing to effectively manage the risk of misuse of medicines that contain pseudoephedrine or ephedrine. A Public Assessment Report which summarises the findings from the 2012 review is now available – see link below.