India's 1st Cough Clinics Launched by Kenvue & API

New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI) Kenvue, a consumer health company and makers of Benadryl cough syrup, on Friday announced the launch of 'Cough Clinics', an industry-first initiative, in association with the Association of Physicians of India (API).

As part of this scientific initiative, Kenvue plans to establish 10 Cough Centres of Excellence across India. These centres will run 'Cough Clinics' with an aim to scale knowledge on scientific best practices around cough evaluation and expand its usage in treatment, said Kenvue in a statement.

"We are working with health care professionals to raise awareness of non-bronchodilator formulations for productive cough since there is enough evidence to show that not all productive coughs need a bronchodilator," said Prashant Shinde, Business Unit Head, Self-Care, Kenvue India.

In India, the average adult experiences about three episodes of cough per year, while children may experience 7-10 episodes per year, according to experts.

However, cough syrup formulations have been under the scanner in recent times due to the lack of therapeutic justification behind some of the prevalent formulations in the market.

Despite high occurrences of coughs and respiratory illnesses, 70 per cent of individuals receive experience-based therapy without a confirmed diagnosis as confirmed in an article published in Journal of Association of Physicians of India.

The absence of a systematic approach has often led to the use of multi-ingredient irrational cough formulations, increasing the risk of side effects and escalating treatment costs especially in vulnerable sections of the population including elderly and children.

With an aim to address this gap, 'Cough Clinics' by Kenvue and API seek to redefine cough evaluation and management by equipping health care professionals with a simplified, science-backed approach rooted in symptom categorization.

Agam Vora, General Secretary, API, said, "Despite the high burden of cough-related consultations in India, standardized diagnostic tools have largely been missing in primary care, leading to overdependence on empirical treatment and missed opportunities for early intervention.

"We are delighted to launch India's first ever Cough Clinics in association with Kenvue to offer physicians in primary care with specialized training and tools to understand different types of coughs and improve patient care.”

The Cough Clinics will comprise three learning modules.

Each module is designed to focus on specific aspects of cough evaluation, sound recognition, treatment decision-making, and rational treatment. The content has been curated and validated by experts from the Association of Physicians of India (API), and each session will be anchored by leading Pulmonologists, the statement said.

Every participating physician will undergo a thorough assessment to measure the knowledge shift as well as a Net Promoter Score will be collected to evaluate experience and effectiveness, it stated.