New entries and risks revealed

The 108 medicines are considered to pose risks that outweigh the benefits

The annual list of medicines to avoid in France – because the benefit they offer is less than the risks posed – has been published, with four new entries.

Medical review Prescrire publishes an updated list every year. The new full list for 2026, published on December 1, names 108 medicines to avoid.

Which are the new medicines listed?

There are four new entries this year. 

Of these, only three are available for use in France, and none of them are reimbursable by the Assurance maladie.

The three still available in France are:

• Fezolinetant: Marketed under the name Veoza by Dutch laboratory Astellas. Designed to prevent hot flushes in menopausal women. Prescrire highlights that it can cause severe hepatitis in some women.

• Gefapixant: Marketed as Lyfnua by American company Merck. Intended for patients with chronic cough. Prescrire states that it frequently causes taste disorders and can increase the risk of pneumonia.

• Chondroitin: Marketed as Chondrosulf by the Swiss company Ibsa. Aims to treat osteoarthritis. However, Prescrire states that its effectiveness has not been proven, and that in rare cases it can cause serious allergic reactions.

Lastly, the new medicine on the list that is not used in France, is:

In contrast, two medicines that were on the list have been removed. 

• The first is obeticholic acid, which was used to treat primary biliary cholangitis (a type of liver disease). It is no longer used in France due to the risk of worsening symptoms and causing serious, sometimes fatal, adverse effects on the liver.

• The second is piracetam, a psychostimulant used for cases of vertigo, cognitive and neurosensory deficits in the elderly, dyslexia in children and cortical myoclonus (muscle jerking). Reanalysis in 2025 for cortical myoclonus found an uncertain clinical benefit, versus the risk of haemorrhages, nervousness, agitation, and weight gain.

Which common medicines are on the list overall?

The medicines are categorised by medical area, including diabetes and nutrition, gynaecology and endocrinology, cardiology, pain, infectious diseases, psychiatry, neurology, and gastro-enterology.

Common medicines on the list include:

• Anti-diarrhoea. Sold as Smecta or Smectalia. A long-standing medicine on the list. Prescrire considers it to be ineffective and potentially toxic, due to the presence of lead in its ingredients.

• Antibiotic. Moxifloxacin (sold under brands including Izilox). This is “no more effective than other [antibiotics]”, Prescrire said, but offers a greater risk of acute liver failure and heart problems.

• Antiemetics (for nausea and vomiting). These include domperidone and droperidol (brand name Droleptan), and metopimazine (Vogalene) should also be avoided. These are linked to heart rhythm disorders, strokes and sudden deaths.

• Fenfluramine (for epilepsy). An amphetamine generally used to treat severe forms of infantile epilepsy (brand name Fintepla), this has been re-added to the list (after having been removed in previous years), due to the risk of convulsive seizures.

• Oxomemazine (cough suppressant). Sold under the brand name Toplexil, this has a strong sedative effect.

• Pentoxyverine (cough suppressant). This carries the risk of serious allergic reactions and heart problems. For both wet and dry coughs, Prescrire recommends avoiding the use of medication completely and eating good quality honey instead.

Other medicines on the list include treatments for a runny nose, cough, and sore throat. For these relatively less-serious conditions, the risk of side effects is considered too high to justify the use of the drug.

These include decongestants, including: 

• Actifed Rhume, Dolirhume, Humex Rhume, Nurofen Rhume, and Rhinadvil. 

These contain a vasoconstrictor that is intended to improve the sensation of a blocked nose, but they can also, in rare cases, cause serious and sometimes-fatal cardiovascular issues.

Are the medicines dangerous?

The medicines on the list are not necessarily dangerous (although some can be), but they are considered to have a negative risk-benefit ratio. This means that the risk of side effects outweighs the benefits of taking the drug.

Prescrire has four categories on its list:

• Medicines with proven effectiveness but which pose risks that are disproportionate to the benefits they provide

• Older medicines that are no longer used because newer medicines have a better risk-benefit balance

• Recent medicines whose benefit-risk balance is less favourable than that of older medicines

• Medicines whose effectiveness has not been proven beyond that of a placebo and which may expose patients to particularly serious adverse effects.

This means that in some cases, the ‘benefits’ of taking the drug are effectively non-existent, Prescrire says.

It states: “[The medicines listed] expose patients to disproportionate adverse effects in the absence of proven clinical efficacy, or with efficacy that is uncertain or too modest compared to a placebo.”

Most of the drugs on the ‘avoid’ list have alternatives that are considered safer and/or more effective.

Why are the medicines still available if they are listed?

The list itself is not legally binding; Prescrire is a medical review, rather than a national medical authority. 

Most of the medicines on the list are there because they have made it to market in France and the EU (with all the tests that this requires), and are considered to be a treatment for a given condition (at least as good as a placebo).

Prescrire states that “one of its main objectives is to provide healthcare professionals, and therefore patients, with clear, concise, reliable and up-to-date information that is free from commercial or corporate conflicts of interest, and which they need for their practice”.

Prescrire’s list should be seen as an extra piece of advice to doctors and patients, but it does not have greater authority than your doctor or treating professional, or knowledge of your specific case. 

Your doctor will likely have extra knowledge of your specific case, condition or risk factors when it comes to a particular medicine.

Specialists themselves are divided on some of Prescrire’s recommendations. 

Some welcome Prescrire’s input and independence, but others told the Agence France-Presse that the list could cause fear among patients who rely on a listed drug, especially those for whom few alternatives exist.

What should I do with the list information?

You may wish to take Prescrire’s advice into account when taking them, and look for alternatives (e.g. for cold or decongestant medicines, for which many alternatives exist).

However, if you are taking any of the prescription medication on the list, you are advised to not stop taking it, and to talk to your doctor instead before making any changes.

Prescrire states that individual patients have a “variety of choices” when it comes to taking medication, ranging from “refusing all treatment” at one end of the scale, “to trying any drug that offers even the slightest chance of temporary improvement, even at the risk of serious side effects”, at the other end.

“Unlike drugs tested in clinical trials, where there is a high degree of uncertainty, drugs used in the context of care must have a favourable risk-benefit balance,” it states.

“In all cases, patients must be given the option of…refusing a ‘last chance’ treatment, for which the risk-benefit balance is unclear,” it concludes.