Personal Injury Blog

FDA Warns of Potential Drug Mixup with Prescription Pain Killers that Could Cause Medical Injuries

January 22nd, 2012
prescription-pain-killers

Inconsistent packaging could cause a potential mixup of pills.

San Diego defective products attorneys are drawing attention to the Food and Drug Administration’s warning about a potential mixup of over-the-counter medications with high-strength prescription pain killers, as a result of errors made at a Novartis plant.

Last week, Novartis announced a recall of approximately 1,605 lots of over-the-counter pills after concerns that these were getting mixed up with prescription pain killers manufactured by Endo Pharma at the same plant.  The FDA warning is related to problems at the manufacturing plant in Lincoln, Nebraska.

According to the agency, it has received hundreds of complaints from consumers who say that they bought over-the-counter medications, and found the pills crushed, chipped and broken.  The complaint also included inconsistent packaging that could cause a potential mixup of pills.  The drugs that are involved in the complaint include Excedrin, N-DOZ, Bufferin and Gas-X.

According to the federal agency’s warning, due to errors at the plant, many of Novartis’ over-the-counter pills could have possibly been packaged with powerful prescription painkillers by Endo Pharmaceuticals manufactured at the same plant.  Some of those prescription pills that have possibly been mixed up with over-the-counter pills include Perocet, Endocet, Opana and other opioid drugs.

Food and Drug Administration inspectors are inspecting the plant in Chadds Ford, Pa.  They have already found a manufacturing problem that could cause pills to become stuck in the machinery and be carried over into the packaging of other products.  This is how it’s believed that the over-the-counter painkillers got mixed with the prescription drugs.

The Food and Drug Administration is not confirming that any mixup has occurred, but the federal agency is warning consumers to be more careful when they take pills manufactured at these plants.  The Food and Drug Administration as well as Endo Pharmaceuticals are recommending that patients who are taking these over-the-counter pills take their medications carefully to make sure that all the pills are the exact size, shape and color.  Look for the same markings on each bill.  If you notice that any of the tablets in your packaging look different from the others, stop taking the medication, and return the packaging to your pharmacist.  Bring this to the attention of the Food and Drug Administration and Endo Pharmaceuticals.

At this point, the Food and Drug Administration is not aware of any injuries or illnesses resulting from any potential mixup, and has not made any decision on taking action against Endo or Novartis.

Posted by Robert Reeves at 2:02 pm: No comments

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