advertisements for ibuprofen 400 mg soon to be banned

“General public advertising for medicines containing 400mg of ibuprofen will be banned from April 2” due to an increase in “serious adverse effects related to the dose of ibuprofen [anti-inflammatoire]”, announces the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) in a press release. This concerns advertisements in newspapers, on television but also on the internet.

The decision is made in “the continuity of our actions in favor of the proper use of these medications available without a prescription and commonly used (…) in the event of pain or fever”. These advertisements have overly encouraged consumers to directly resort to ibuprofen dosed in 400 mg, estimates the ANSM, because the recommendations are “favor taking ibuprofen dosed at 200 mg as first intention”.

Gastro-digestive bleeding

However, the ANSM establishes a direct link between these advertisements and incorrect taking of medications, “Reports of serious adverse effects related to the dose of ibuprofen, including gastro-digestive bleeding and kidney damage, have increased in parallel with the number of advertisements to the general public in favor of ibuprofen 400 mg and sales of these medicines containing 400 mg of ibuprofen”.

This ban only applies to 400 mg boxes and does not “does not call into question the positive benefit-risk balance of these drugs”, but “intervenes in the continuity of the measures taken in recent years to secure the use of these medicines”, such as the ban in 2019 on their free access, “since this date, boxes of ibuprofen must be positioned behind the pharmacy counter”. An indication was also added that “that taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can mask the symptoms of a bacterial infection and lead to a delay in diagnosis and treatment”.