Cold And Flu Medicine: $100m Wasted And 100m Colds. Expert Says Public Should Be Compensated

After today’s announcement of a class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson for its cold and flu medication, a medicine policy expert’s report shows how the ineffective medicine, phenylephrine, gained a unique monopoly in New Zealand.

The hard-hitting report says New Zealanders needlessly suffered through 100m colds and wasted up to $100m on ineffective replacement ingredients after former Prime Minister John Key championed the removal of pseudoephedrine from pharmacy shelves 12 years ago.

It says the Government should apologise and compensate citizens.

The report, by public affairs consultancy BlacklandPR, traces the path New Zealand took to prohibition of pseudoephedrine in 2011. It concludes that the ban, rescinded by the current coalition Government, failed because it was the ill-considered result of politicians and ‘moral entrepreneurs’ fueling and responding to a moral panic.

In the decade following the ban the availability of methamphetamine increased dramatically, deaths from the drug rose 585%, and meth-related crime tripled. This means New Zealanders suffered unnecessarily through 100 million colds and spent tens of millions of dollars on a replacement ingredient which was less effective than a placebo[1].

Lead author of the report, BlacklandPR Director Mark Blackham, says moral panic and activism of a new Government, clouded and pressured the judgement of officials and experts.

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“The ban cost our country dearly. We spent tens of millions of dollars over the period importing useless phenylephrine-based alternatives.

“We needlessly suffered through 100 million colds over the 12-year ban.

“We suffered for nothing. The ban was meant to dry up the source of ingredients for meth. It didn’t. Deaths from meth overdose increased by 585% over the ten years following the ban. Crime related to the meth trade tripled between 2011 and 2020[2].”

Blackham says it was a classic example of bad policymaking with lessons for future politicians.

“Fear overwhelmed the nation, and the governing class lacked the leadership, skills and insight to use and defend rationality.

“Panic gave room for simplistic and bad ideas from social entrepreneurs and experts to gain moral superiority, and anxious politicians responded by intimidating officials into changing a long-standing and well considered position,” Blackham says.

The report shows how fear of methamphetamine gripped the country in 2009 as it grew rapidly in availability and use[3], and crossed into community and public life[4]. The threshold for political action was crossed when Antonie Dixon went on a meth-induced spree of violence, culminating in a sword attack which cut the limbs of two women[5].

Demands were made for ‘something to be done’ and new Prime Minister John Key promised an action plan. In May 2009 he announced his intention to look at banning over the counter (OTC) sales of pseudoephedrine[6] - an idea that had been first mooted by a group of Bay of Plenty doctors and pharmacists in 2003. Key said the first task of Peter Gluckman in the new role of Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister would be to make a recommendation on a ban. Within two months Gluckman had recommended a ban, albeit also with a review in three years. The necessary legislation passed through Parliament by 2011, with every MP in favour. Gluckman’s review was never carried out.

Blackham says consequences for bad decision-making were necessary to dissuade people from the attraction of superficial solutions.

“Without any expectation for rationality, and penalty for not using it, the easy answer is to make decisions that satisfy the crowd, and to proffer face-value solutions and shallow reasoning.

“Policies should not be the result of political grandstanding because they can have very bad consequences.

“We recommend a moment of self-reflection from everyone involved. It requires an apology from the current Government, from key players in the decision, and compensation.

“We got it wrong as a society, and we won’t get things right until we acknowledge our roles in that,” Blackham says.

Download the report, Methamphetamine Madness: https://www.blacklandpr.com/methreport 

References:

[1] Each adult catches a cold at least twice a year, with runny noses and head pain the most common symptoms. Pseudoephedrine constricts blood vessels in the nose and sinuses, draining fluid and reducing swelling. The phenylephrine-based alternative medicines do not alleviate symptoms – see: https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/phenylephrine-a-common-decongestant-is-ineffective-say-fda-advisors-its-not-alone/

[2] https://www.parliament.nz/media/7832/methamphetamine_in_new-zealand_-a_snapshot_of_recent_trends.pdf

[3]https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjCrpX0pLOBAxW7plYBHTnbAOYQFnoECEUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.health.govt.nz%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2Fdocuments%2Fpublications%2Ftrends-in-drug-use-in-akld-wgtn-chch.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1ZJKpQKHjARz8rJ0XCQmk-&opi=89978449

[4] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/fighting-the-demon-inside-the-criminal-evolution-of-methamphetamine-in-nz/6SGDWE4ENH4WA4I4RQUWKV3LEY/

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonie_Dixon

[6] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/pm-moves-to-ban-p-makers-vital-cold-pills/Z5AH2SIZK6EKIHNBREBSLLKGX4/

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