Each year, largely prescribed drugs are found on the hot seat. In 2025, the Revue Prescrire alert again: 88 treatments sold in France had an unfavorable benefit-risk report.
They are taken on a daily basis, sometimes without prescription, often without distrust. However, these drugs are now classified among the most risky to use. The prescribing review, independent and without financing of the pharmaceutical industry, has just published its thirteenth black list. For 2025, she alerts 106 Treatments To be dismissed. Of which 88 still available in pharmacies or prescribed in France. Their undesirablesometimes serious, prevail over their expected benefits, according to a rigorous analysis carried out over a decade.
These substances concern millions of patients, as they are used against very frequent pathologies such as DiabetesTHE joint paincough, depression or even digestive disorders. Prescribing calls for more prudent use, favoring alternatives deemed safer and just as effective.
Medicines to avoid: the main molecules targeted in 2025
This new edition, moreover relayed in the media, in particular by the Journal des Femmes, lists drugs covering all specialties: cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, dermatology, gynecology, psychiatry, etc. In many cases, the risks side effects are considered too important in view of their clinical efficiency. “The undesirable effects to which they expose are disproportionate to their low efficiency, either because other less dangerous options exist”indicates the review of prescribing.
Here are some notable examples in the 2025 list:
- Colds, coughs and throats : decongestants (ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, etc.), Ambroxol (Muxol), Oxomemazine (Toplexil), or Alpha-Amylase (Maxilase).
- Painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs : diclofenac (Voltarene), accomplished (Cartrex), the toprof bens (Ketum), clelebext (Celebrex), leloxics (Mobic).
- Diabetes and weight loss : sitagliptine (Januvia), vildagliptine (Galvus), alogliptine (Vipidia), orlistat (Xenical).
- Psychotropic drugs : duloxétine (cymbalta), escitalopram (seroplex), citalopram (seropram), eTifoxine (roofs), bupropione (Zyban).
Bupropione, often prescribed to help smoking cessation, is notably targeted by prescribing, because “It is not more effective than nicotine (patch, editor’s note) and exposes to disorders neuropsychiques”.
The case of spasfon, always as controversial
Among the newcomers to this blacklistis an emblematic drug in France: the phloroglucinol, Active spasfon molecule, massively used to relieve intestinal or menstrual pain. Although it seems effective, the experts to prescribe recall that “Its symptomatic effectiveness on recurring mild intestinal disorders is uncertain. In other clinical situations, there is nothing to expect beyond the effectiveness of a placebo. In pregnant women or which could become so, it is to be ruled out (…). It is prudent to advise its self-medication, trivialized in France”.
The message of the review is clear: drugs are not harmless products. A prescription does not guarantee their safety, and certain treatments deemed safe may expose to serious effects, such as hospitalizations or deaths.