87 more lots of blood pressure and heart medicine recalled for probable carcinogen
The river of blood pressure and heart medication recalls continued to flow Thursday as Camber Pharmaceuticals announced a recall of 87 lots of Losartan Potassium for having too much NMBA.
NMBA (N-Nitroso N-Methyl 4-amino butyric acid) is different than NDEA (N-nitrosodiethylamine) or NDMA, which have been the cause of previous Losartan, Valsartan and Irbesartan recalls. NMBA is considered a potential cancer-causing ingredient in humans. Its presence in these medicines’ active ingredient, manufactured in this case by India-based Hetero Labs Limited, is considered an impurity.
Hetero Labs Limited also manufactured the active ingredient in the single lot of Losartan that Macleods Pharmaceuticals Limited recalled last week for having too much NDEA.
Camber’s recall dwarfs the one by Macleods, as it involves various sizes of tablets (25mg, 50mg 100mg) in various sizes of bottles (30-count, 90-count, 500-count, 1,000-count). The full list can be seen here on the company’s recall announcement on Thursday afternoon.
Those who have the recalled medication are advised, as in previous recalls of Losartan, Valsartan or Irbesartan, to keep taking it until a doctor prescribes an alternate treatment. While the FDA has limits on what’s acceptable for daily ingestion of NDEA, it’s also admitted the chances of getting cancer from too much in your medicine are small. Friday, the FDA said it estimated the same for NMBA.
Consumers with questions can call Camber at 1-866-495-1995, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern time.
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 7:50 PM.
