CANBERRA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- An Australian law firm has launched a class action lawsuit against U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, accusing it of selling ineffective medicines.

Lawyers from the firm JGA Saddler on Friday filed the class action suit in the Federal Court of Australia, alleging that Johnson & Johnson falsely stated that its medicines containing phenylephrine could relieve congestion.

They said that decades of evidence showed that phenylephrine was ineffective as a decongestant when taken orally.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2023 declared that phenylephrine is not effective as a nasal decongestant when taken in tablet form.

JGA Saddler's suit claims that Johnson & Johnson used outdated and fallible studies to sell Australians ineffective products.

"Australians have trusted these products to work as advertised and wouldn't have bought them if they realized they were ineffective at treating congestion," Rebecca Jancauskas, a director at JGA Saddler, said.

Phenylephrine has been used by Johnson & Johnson as a substitute for pseudoephedrine, which was put behind the counter at pharmacies in 2006 due to concerns over its use in the manufacturing of illicit drugs.

The class action covers 20 Johnson & Johnson oral medications containing phenylephrine.

The law firm has asked anyone who has ever purchased one of the products containing phenylephrine to register for the class action.

If the suit is successful, Johnson & Johnson could be forced to compensate anyone who bought the products since 2005. Enditem

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