About the manufacturers

Though many drug manufacturers have now stopped making and shipping their various products containing PPA, the question remains whether they continued marketing these drugs after they discovered the risk of stroke, failed to inform consumers or medical professionals about it, and as a result, sat by while consumers like you were innocently put at risk.

Some of the companies and products include:

• SmithKline Beecham Plc - Contac 12-hour cold capsules, the only formulation of Contac that contained PPA.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. - Comtrex Flu Therapy and Fever Relief, Comtrex Deep Chest Cold and Naldecon
• Bayer - Some versions of Alka-Seltzer Plus, Coricidin, Tavist-D and Triaminic
• Cofcol by Abbott, Triaminic by Sandoz/Novartis, Contac 650 Spansule by Smith Kline Beecham, Sinutab by Parke Davis, Coldene by Wilson, Coldrex by Standpharm.
• Damsy by Remington, Denoral by Rhone-Poulenc, Flueze by Werrick, Kofnil by Schazoo,
• Rhinotussal by Brookes, Tandegyl-D by Novartis.

Many companies have substituted pseudoephedrine, another approved nonprescription ingredient, for PPA in their cold products.

For over-the-counter diet aids, the FDA has not cleared any alternative active drug ingredients. Manufacturers have had to switch to products containing natural ingredients, which maker Chattem Inc. has done with its Dexatrim Natural.

Eight prescription-only decongestants that contain PPA remain on the market.