The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announces that ScieGen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is voluntarily recalling certain lots, within expiry, of Irbesartan Tablets, USP 75 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg dosage forms to the consumer level. These products are being recalled due to the presence of an impurity, N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) contained in the API Irbesartan, USP manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma Limited. This impurity, which is a substance that occurs naturally in certain foods, drinking water, air pollution, and industrial processes, has been classified as a probable human carcinogen as per International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
Irbesartan Tablets, USP 75 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg were manufactured by ScieGen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and are labeled as Westminster Pharmaceuticals and Golden State Medical Supply, Inc [GSMS]. For details of the affected batches, please refer to the website in FDA. The products are packed in 30-count and 90-count bottles and can be best identified by patients as being white, oval shaped tablets debossed with SG 160; SG 161; or SG 162.
Please refer to the following website in FDA for details:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm624593.htm
In Hong Kong, there are 253 registered pharmaceutical products containing valsartan (83 products), candesartan (19 products), irbesartan (64 products), losartan (70 products) and olmesartan (17 products). All products are prescription-only medicines.
Regarding impurities in valsartan, a public announcement was issued on 6 Jul 2018, and letters to inform local healthcare professionals were issued by the Department of Health (DH) on 6 Jul 2018, 9 Jul 2018, 25 Jul 2018 and 3 Aug 2018. Related news for the detection of impurities in sartan-containing products was also previously issued by various overseas drug regulatory authorities, and was posted on the Drug Office website since 6 Jul 2018, with the latest update posted on 30 Oct 2018.
In summary, there are four manufacturers, namely Zhejiang Huahai, Zhejiang Tianyu and Zhuhai Rundu in China and Hetero Labs Limited in India, reported to have detection of trace amounts of NDMA in the valsartan Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) by various overseas drug regulatory authorities. The DH contacted the certificate holders of all registered valsartan products to follow up on the local impact regarding valsartan API produced by the above mentioned manufacturers.
For API produced by Zhejiang Huahai, there are 5 affected products (HK-61786, HK-61787, HK-61784, HK-61785 and HK-60794) marketed in Hong Kong. The DH instructed the certificate holders to recall all the products from the market as a precautionary measure on 6 Jul 2018, and the DH noted that all the recalls have been completed.
For API produced by Zhejiang Tianyu, amongst the registered pharmaceutical products containing valsartan, there is only one product namely Retoni Tablets 80mg (HK-65604) registered by Swiss Pharmaceutical Co Limited (Swiss Pharmaceutical) which has used API produced by Zhejiang Tianyu and is available in the local market. As confirmed with Swiss Pharmaceutical, the API was tested by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) and the company has not received any notice from the TFDA for NDMA contamination. The DH collected samples of Retoni tablets for analysis and no NDMA was detected.
For API produced by Zhuhai Rundu and Hetero Labs Limited, the certificate holders confirmed that the valsartan products available in local market are not manufactured using API produced by Zhuhai Rundu or Hetero Labs Limited.
Regarding the announcements issued by various overseas drug regulatory authorities on the detection of the second impurity of NDEA in the valsartan API produced by Zhejiang Huahai, there should be no local impact as all valsartan products manufactured using API produced by Zhejiang Huahai have been recalled from the market.
Regarding the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) announcement on the detection of NDEA in the losartan API produced by Hetero Labs Limited, and the announcements issued by EMA and US Food and Drug Administration on NDEA in the irbesartan API produced by Aurobindo Pharma in India, the DH has contacted the certificate holders of all registered candesartan, irbesartan, losartan and olmesartan products and will continue to follow up on the impact of NDEA impurities on the products available in the local market.
So far, the DH has received 15 cases of adverse drug reaction related to valsartan, candesartan, irbesartan, losartan and olmesartan. None of them are concluded to be related to the presence of NDMA and/or NDEA. The DH will keep vigilant on any further updates on the matter issued by overseas regulatory authorities.
Patients who are taking the above products should not stop taking the medicines, but should seek advice from their healthcare professionals as soon as possible for proper arrangement.
Ends/Wednesday, Oct 31, 2018
Issued at HKT 15:00
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