Previous Story
CHCC: Losartan on shelf is ‘good batch’
|
Posted on Apr 29 2019
The Commonwealth Health Care Corp. has clarified that the hypertension maintenance medicine that are on the shelves of its pharmacy is not affected by the recent Losartan recall.
CHCC clarified in a statement Thursday last week that no Losartan in its pharmacy’s stock is part of the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recall and urges the public to continue purchasing Losartan in the pharmacy.
“Most recalls, such as the recent recall of Losartan, a blood pressure medication, only affects certain batches of medication, not every single bottle,” CHCC said. “The CHCC Outpatient Pharmacy’s current stock of Losartan is not part of the current FDA recall, and patients are urged to continue taking their medication as prescribed.”
CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muña noted in an interview last Wednesday that the CHCC pharmacy pulled out all the bad batches of Losartan right after they received notification of the recall.
People who are believed to have bought drugs from the batch affected by the recall were immediately contacted and asked to come in to have their medicine replaced.
In its recent statement, CHC stressed that not all batches of Losartan are affected by the recall.
“…CHCC would like to reassure the public that they closely monitor drug recalls, and take appropriate action in the event of a recall,” CHCC noted, adding that notifying patients that have been prescribed a recalled drug and working with them to find an alternate solution was one of those actions, including notifying the public if the recall extends to all products.
Last April 18, 2019, the FDA recalled 36 Losartan potassium tablet lots and 68 Losartan potassium/hydrochlorothiazide tablet lots for alleged NMBA contamination.
NMBA is one of the three carcinogens found in hypertension medicine produced by Torrent Pharmaceuticals, the medical company that produces Losartan. The other two include NMDA and NDEA.
The contamination was reportedly hushed for a year before health officials acknowledged the contamination, which had already exposed more than two million people around the world.
Other blood pressure drugs such as Valsartan and Irbesartan were also found to be contaminated and were recalled.
