FDA is no longer credible. They make drug companies pay so much (last time I checked :500 million) to get a new drug approved, the drug companies probably bought them out to own them.
Phenylephrine is a very potent vasoconstrictor when given intravenously. Ubiquitously used in ICU to raise dangerously low BP. But it is not absorbed well orally. I have used both benadryl and oral phenylephrine to useful effect when I have a cold. Gonna go buy a lot of it.
But destroyed in the gut.
How well would a nasal spray or sublingual/buccal work, I wonder...