Cold FX – FAD or Fact?

Child blowing his nose
(Photo from Photobucket, uploaded by lindaorso)

With friends, family, and co-workers sick around you, and with the flu season just around the corner, it really is just a matter of time before that nasty cold grabs a hold of you too.  This encourages several  questions such as: “What can I do to prevent catching a cold? What can I take to get over a cold quickly and easily ?”

In comes the super drug: Cold-FX.  The manufacturers of this drug,Valeant

Cold-FX
Picture taken from Cold-FX Facebook page.

Pharmaceuticals International, claim that taking two capsules of Cold-FX a day will boost your immune system and this boost will ultimately lead to a decrease in the severity,  the duration, and the frequency of colds.

Sound too good to be true?

The University of Toronto Faculty of Pharmacy conducted a study to find the answer. Over 1000 adults participated in this study involving 4 randomized controlled trials. This group was compared with a placebo group and the results were a little surprising.

The results:
The study did show a 6% reduction in the chance of catching a cold.  Basically, if there is a 30% chance of catching a cold, a person taking Cold-FX will have a 24% chance of catching it. This reduction is relatively small, but it still helps to prevent colds nonetheless.
On the other hand, the drug doesn’t live up to all it’s claims. The study did not find any evidence to support that Cold-FX reduces the severity or the duration of a cold. It seems that Cold-FX is effective for preventative measures only.

If Cold-FX doesn’t help fight cold symptoms, why do so many people still take it?
Answer: Marketing.

Through clever, and sometimes false, advertising the general public is under the impression that Cold-FX will reduce your symptoms, or help you get better quickly. The public also helps spread the word on how Cold-FX “helped” them when they were sick, when the cause of their recovery may be due to natural causes or the placebo effect and not the drug itself. The popular CBC show, Marketplace, went under cover and found that even pharmacists would recommend Cold-FX to help conquer  cold symptoms. The mass support for Cold-FX is the key to it’s success. Friends and family, and even celebrities continually promote this drug to others, despite the science contradicting it’s effectiveness.

Here is a clip of the famous Canadian hockey commentator (and the former face of Cold FX), Don Cherry, being informed of the results of the study.

video uploaded by CBCtv

The bottom line is that Cold-FX is effective, to some degree, in preventing colds. It does not, however, help in reducing the severity or the duration of the cold. This information should be spread to consumers so that they don’t take an ineffective drug to combat their cold symptoms. Instead,  they should take an alternative and more effective medicine to help get over the cold as quickly as possible!

Al-Haqq Govani