For the second time in a week, a pharmaceutical company is issuing a voluntary recall of a blood pressure drug because it may contain a cancer-causing impurity. It's the latest in a series of recalls since last July.
Camber Pharmaceutical announced Thursday it is recalling 87 lots of Losartan Tablets USP 25 mg, 50 mg, and 100 mg. The company said there was a detection of trace amounts of N-Nitroso N-Methyl 4-aminobutyric acid (NMBA), a potential human carcinogen.
The company said there have been no reports of "adverse events" related to the recall.
Despite the possible cancer risk, the company said customers should first contact their doctor for guidance before they stop taking the pills.
There have been over a dozen similar recalls since July 2018. Those have mostly been for the detection of N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), which can also potentially cause cancer.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in January the impurities may be happening "when specific chemicals and reaction conditions are present in the manufacturing process of the drug’s active pharmaceutical ingredients, and may also result from the reuse of materials, such as solvents."
Gottlieb said the FDA's analysis found that the risk to patients based on the maximum possible exposure to NDMA appears to be small, but that the agency is still looking for the root cause to make sure the impurities do not continue.
You can use this link to search for recent drug recalls
