[Pharmacy based sore throat therapy according to current guidelines]

Abstract

Sore throat should be treated symptomatically in self-medication. Due to the mainly viral origin of the disease and the lack of efficiency data, local antibiotics or antiseptics should not be recommended. systemic analgesics as acetylsalicylic acid, acetaminophen, flurbiprofen, or ibuprofen are valid treatment options. Clinical trials suggest that ibuprofen shows the best benefit-risk profile. Flurbiprofen could show efficiency in current trials but head-to-head data with other analgesics (e.g. ibuprofen) are missing. There are currently three local anesthetics available with confirmed efficiency in clinical trials: lidocain (8mg), benzocaine (8 mg) and ambroxol (20 mg). They can be recommended in the first-line treatment. Among these ambroxol has the best documented benefit-risk profile in the therapy of acute sore In the light of evidence based medicine, patients asking for local therapeutics can be treated with local anesthetics.