Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Yellow Card reports on over‑the‑counter cough and cold medicines were received in each of the last five years.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) publishes information in the form of interactive Drug Analysis Profiles which can be accessed here on the Yellow Card website, at the following link:

https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/idaps

You will be able to access a complete listing of all suspected adverse drug reactions that have been reported to the MHRA via the Yellow Card scheme for all medicines, including medicines used to treat coughs and colds. This includes all reports received from healthcare professionals, members of the public, and pharmaceutical companies.

Please note information regarding whether a drug was prescribed or purchased over the counter is not mandatory to provide on a Yellow Card and as such we do not capture this information in a structured data field to be able to provide as part of this request.