Spasfon and other drugs highlighted by Prescrire magazine, because they are more dangerous than useful

It had already been singled out in 2023 in the book On Ignorance in Medicine by Juliette Ferry-Danini, Belgian teacher-researcher, here it is pinned again, this time in the famous list of drugs more dangerous than useful in the journal Prescribe (Source 1).

The Spasfon is definitely nothing essential, according to the medical journal. She believes that at this stage, “at the end of 2024, the evaluation of phloroglucinol remains poor”. “Its main side effects are allergic reactions, including rare Lyell syndromes, and a poorly understood teratogenic risk”, we read in the magazine’s 2025 report. Considering that its effectiveness on recurrent benign intestinal disorders is uncertain, Prescrire even considers that “in other clinical situations, there is no nothing to expect from phloroglucinol beyond the effectiveness of a placebo”, and invites it to be avoided in women who are pregnant or who could become pregnant, and advises against taking it as self-medication, which is “trivialized in France”.

However, Spasfon (whose active molecule is phloroglucinol) is not included in the black list of medicines. Prescribe“but only because of the uncertainty about a possible modest symptomatic benefit in patients bothered by recurrent benign intestinal disorders”.

The benefit-risk balance above all

The magazine recalls that its assessment of the benefit-risk balance…

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