Adults only ruling for prescription opioid cough and cold meds

The risk of slowed or difficult breathing, misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose, and death with prescription cough and cold medicines containing codeine or hydrocodone outweighs their benefits in patients younger than 18.

That is the stance being taken by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as it demands safety labeling changes to limit the use of these products to adults only.

The FDA is also requiring the addition of safety information about the risks that these medicines pose to the Boxed Warning, the agency’s most prominent warning.