Production & Sale of OTC Drug Halted Due To Cancer Concerns

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on September 22, 2019

The sale of several popular over-the-counter prescription drugs that purports to reduce stomach acid within certain individual has been halted after the US Food and Drug Administration in concert with the European Medicines Agency released reports indicating that batches of the drugs contain an impurity. Specifically, reports from numerous news agencies throughout the U.S. and Europe indicated that the ranitidine products manufactured by the company Sandoz for the parent drug company Novartis contain traces of NDMA. NDMA is a chemical that has undergone numerous and intensive tests, and the results of these tests indicated that NDMA likely causes cancer within humans.

The drugs made by Sandoz are known as ranitidine drugs, meant to aid in the resolution of ulcers by means of blocking histamine-2 and decreasing the concentration of stomach acid within individuals. At the time of this writing, it is not known if the levels of NDMA found within the ranitidine are large enough to cause any worry within individuals who had consumed the drug; however, until a thorough investigation into the incident has been undertaken, it is highly advisable that people who have purchased the drug for consumption refrain from doing so for the time being. It is not clear if Sandoz will change the method with which the drug is produced in the future. It is also not clear if the medicines, called Zantac, will be involved in an official recall replete with reimbursements of the money spent by people on the drugs under false pretenses.

In relation to the location of this drug within Zantac, the FDA announced that the amount of NDMA believed to be present within the drugs is extremely small and that no one who currently possesses the medicine needs to stop taking it for any length of time. Instead, the FDA suggests that anyone who might be worried about the effects of NDMA on their bodies reach out to their doctors for more detailed instructions.

While NDMA can quickly become a fatal substance when ingested in vast quantities, the reports from the FDA suggested that the amount of NDMA found within Zantac is hardly more than what one might find within fairly common food stuffs.

Sources:

• Shipments of generic Zantac halted amid cancer concerns

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.