More Drugs Recalled Due to Cancer Risk

Aurobindo Pharma USA, Inc., recalls valsartan tablets
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 2, 2019 1:32 PM CST
Yet More Drugs Recalled Over Cancer Worries
In this March 21, 2006 file photo, pills move through a precision weighing machine at a pharmaceutical manufacturers trade show in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The recall of blood pressure medications due to possible risk of cancer is expanding again. Aurobindo Pharma USA, Inc., is voluntarily recalling 80 lots of its valsartan tablets "due to the detection of trace amounts of an unexpected impurity found in the finished drug product," per an FDA press release. That impurity is N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), a naturally-occurring substance that has been classified as a possible human carcinogen, USA Today reports, but the company has not gotten any reports of adverse effects from the drug at this point. Patients using it should not stop until their doctor finds a replacement, as doing so could be dangerous. A full list of the affected Aurobindo medications is here; the FDA keeps a list of all current drug recalls here. (More on the valsartan recall here and here.)

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