WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — A Verify viewer asked us to find out does the Food and Drug Administration require pharmacies to notify consumers who are in possession of prescribed medications that are recalled?
This comes after the viewer read an article about the new batches of recalled high blood medications she was using.
So to get answers, Verify researchers first checked with the FDA and a spokesperson told us the government agency does not have jurisdiction over pharmacies and therefore does not require them to notify consumers of recalled products.
The FDA does alert the public about recalls along with evaluating the effectiveness of a recall by looking at a company's efforts to properly notify customers and remove the defective product from the market but it's up the specific pharmacy to inform patients about their recalled medication.
It's the board of Pharmacy for each state that has jurisdiction over pharmacies.
Like in D.C. and Virginia, the boards works to establish a procedure for proper management of drug recalls which include a process to notify patients in the event of a recall.
Pharmacies such as CVS Pharmacy, explain on their website that when it comes to with patient-level recall, action is taken to immediately notify any members who may be at risk.
So we verified it is not the FDA's responsibility to make sure pharmacies notify consumers about prescribed medication recall.