Pholcodine is an opioid cough suppressant (antitussive). It helps suppress unproductive coughs and also has a mild sedative effect, but has little or no analgesic effects. It is also known as morpholinylethylmorphine and homocodeine.
Pholcodine has been widely used as an antitussive agent but by 2023 concerns over its association with anaphylaxis in some circumstances meant that it has been withdrawn from sale in many territories. Pholcodine is not prescribed in the United States where it is classed as a Schedule I drug, the most highly controlled drug category.
he primary safety concerns with pholcodine revolve around death during general anaesthesia.
News Reports in February 2023: Dozens of cough medicines are being recalled by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) due to a potentially life-threatening ingredient. Fifty-five products containing pholcodine, including syrups and lozenges, are currently on shelves across the country.
The ingredient can cause patients to go into anaphylactic shock when mixed with general anaesthesia. The TGA is aware of 50 cases including one death.