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• n  a powerful vasoconstrictor used to dilate the pupils and relieve nasal congestion

• Fortunately, phenylephrine does a pretty good job for most people when it's sprayed directly into the nose.
• Unfortunately, the most common alternative, phenylephrine, isn't as effective.
• In February it begins shipping Sudafed PE, a second line of its cold drug, which replaces pseudoephedrine with phenylephrine, a decongestant that cannot be used in the production .

News & Articles

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• Small study links decongestant use during pregnancy to rare birth defects
  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A woman's use of decongestant medications in the first trimester of pregnancy may raise her child's risk of certain rare birth defects, according to a small study. Some types of over-the-counter decongestants, including the popular phenylephrine and pseudoephedrine, were individually linked to rare, specific birth defects of the digestive tract, [...]
  July 25, 2013 - MedCity News
• Decongestants in pregnancy linked to birth defects
  By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A woman's use of decongestant medications in the first trimester of pregnancy may raise her child's risk of certain rare birth defects, according to a small study. Some types of over-the-counter decongestants, including the popular phenylephrine and pseudoephedrine, were individually linked to rare, specific birth defects of the digestive tract, ear ...
  July 23, 2013 - Reuters via Yahoo! News
• Using decongestants during pregnancy may raise risk of rare birth defects
  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A woman's use of decongestant medications in the first trimester of pregnancy may raise her child's risk of certain rare birth defects, according to a small study. Some types of over-the-counter decongestants, including the popular phenylephrine and pseudoephedrine, were individually linked to rare, specific birth defects of the digestive tract, [...]
  July 23, 2013 - MedCity News