BLood Pressure med is recalled

[MickintheHam]

valsartan, a widely prescribed generic BP drug has been recalled on a voluntary basis. It is suspected to cause cancer. I spent 3 days this week getting my prescription changed to a new drug.

Youmay not hear anything from your pharmacist or doctor if you take the drug. Alternate drugs are not always in supply at the proper dosage levels. If you take the drug I would suggest you contact your pharmacy or physician.

[PedroDaGr8]

valsartan, a widely prescribed generic BP drug has been recalled on a voluntary basis. It is suspected to cause cancer. I spent 3 days this week getting my prescription changed to a new drug.

Youmay not hear anything from your pharmacist or doctor if you take the drug. Alternate drugs are not always in supply at the proper dosage levels. If you take the drug I would suggest you contact your pharmacy or physician.

A couple of notes on this:

1. Not all valsartan is being recalled, only certain lots of the drug by specific manufacturers are being recalled.
2. The recall is due to the presence of an impurity in said lots.
3. This impurity is what is suspected to cause cancer, not the drug itself.
4. You should hear something from your pharmacist if they filled an order with a recalled lot of valsartan and it is still in date. Your doctor would not know which lots you are given or even which company makes your valsartan and as such would not even have the info to notify you.

[MickintheHam]

A couple of notes on this:

1. Not all valsartan is being recalled, only certain lots of the drug by specific manufacturers are being recalled.
2. The recall is due to the presence of an impurity in said lots.
3. This impurity is what is suspected to cause cancer, not the drug itself.
4. You should hear something from your pharmacist if they filled an order with a recalled lot of valsartan and it is still in date. Your doctor would not know which lots you are given or even which company makes your valsartan and as such would not even have the info to notify you.

Pharmacies have no information from the drug distributors about specifically what to do or more specifically what they will do. Thr drugs being recalled were manufactured in China and sold by three US companies.