After running tests, the Sandoz unit of Novartis (NVS) has expanded its recall of heartburn medicines containing ranitidine and is now pulling the products from the U.S.
The move comes one week after the drug maker halted worldwide distribution of heartburn medicines and regulators in the U.S and Europe disclosed the capsules may contain high levels of a carcinogen. At the time, Sandoz also issued a recall in some European countries and Canada, but did not take the same step in the U.S. while testing was underway.
A Novartis spokesman wrote us that testing found NDMA “above levels established by the Food and Drug Administration in batches” of its capsules. So far, though, the company has not received any reports of adverse events related the medicine, he added.
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