Yet another blood pressure medication has been recalled over cancer-causing impurity

https://bgr.com/2019/01/22/blood-pressure-recall-irbesartan-fda/

Mike Wehner
January 22nd, 2019

Last year, the FDA announced a whole bunch of recalls related to blood pressure medication over fears that an impurity created during the manufacturing process could lead to cancer. The compound in question was found in dozens of prescription medications that contained the active ingredient valsartan, prompting several distributors and manufacturers to issue voluntary recalls affecting countless heart patients.

Now, additional medications containing a similar blood pressure drug, irbesartan, have been found to contain the same impurity, and a new round of recalls is upon us. Solco Healthcare LLC is now asking anyone with potentially contaminated medication to stop taking the drug.

The impurity responsible for this and many other recalls is the presence of N-Nitrosodiethylamine, or NDEA. It can be naturally occurring but it’s also a byproduct of manufacturing processes and is thought to be a human carcinogen, meaning that it likely promotes cancer.

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