Over-the-counter drugs are useless and can make health worse – expert

Many over-the-counter (OTC) pills and lotions from chemists, corner shops and supermarkets are utterly useless, while some can actually make health worse, evidence suggests.

Writing in the UK’s Pharmaceutical Journal, a clinical pharmacy lecturer at Birmingham University (England) Anthony Cox, claims that chemists are ‘endorsing quackery’ by selling such products as cough medicines, whitening toothpastes and antibacterial wipes in the pursuit of profits.

“Community pharmacists should stop selling over-the-counter medicines that have little evidence of efficacy”, he wrote.