The U.S Food and Drug Administration announced a voluntary recall of an extensively suggested blood pressure medicine made in China. The FDA has refreshed fears regarding the safety of imported drugs. The agency has indicated that 3 companies are selling the generic drug in the United States. A company “valsartan” has agreed to recall it after the agency said that it might be contaminated by NDMA (N-nitrosodimethylamine) and considered a supposed human cancer-causing agent. It is still under investigation, but FDA said that the toxic was believed to be related to alterations in the way that manufactured by valsartan. Point to be noted that entire recalled valsartan was made in China by Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. The medicine was being distributed by 3 companies in the United States. These companies are Teva Pharmaceutical, Solco Healthcare, and Major Pharmaceutical.
A representative of Fore Pharma (market research firm) John Brito said that Solco is owned by Huahai Pharmaceutical and had at least 45% of the market in 2017. Other companies selling the drug are not subject to recall, including Mylan, Sun Pharma, Hetero, Aurobindo, and Jubiliant. The director of the Center for Drug Evaluation & Research of FDA, Dr. Janet Woodcock said that the agency carefully analyzed the valsartan-containing medicines have been sold in the United States. It has been found that the valsartan sold by these 3 companies doesn’t match U.S FDA safety standards. So, the agency has asked these specific companies to take an urgent step to protect patients in the United States. The agency issued a warning that patients taking the drug should carefully look at the name of the manufacturer on the label of their prescription bottle.