Author: Erin Elizabeth

The generic drug company Mylan Pharmaceuticals, has recalled three commonly prescribed blood pressure medications due to concerns that they could include small amounts of N-nitrosodiethylamine (or NDEA) a cancer-causing impurity. Each of the recalled drugs includes the blood-pressure medication valsartan, which has itself been the subject of a series of recalls by several drug companies since July of this year. RELATED STORY: One of the best exercises for high blood pressure (The recalled drugs are part of a class of drugs called” angiotensin II receptor blockers” which work by widening or relaxing blood vessels, thereby lowering blood pressure.) “The generic drug company Mylan Pharmaceuticals recalled 104 lots of three medications: valsartan tablets, combination tablets with the drugs valsartan and amlodipine, and combination tablets with valsartan and hydrochlorothiazide. Amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide in standalone form are not subject to the recall.”1 RELATED STORY: Instant mood booster, also lowers blood pressure The cause of the contamination was originally traced to a large factory in China and then a second factory in India but the FDA is still investigating. However, those factories have now been placed on “import alert” (drugs from those factories cannot be shipped into the US); “Factories that make drugs abroad are subject to inspection by the FDA”2 and are required to tell regulators about any changes they have made in the manufacturing of the drug ingredients. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for...