The Consumer Protection Council, (CPC) has advised all persons currently under high blood pressure medication or hypertensive care to henceforth desist from using all Valsartan drugs in 40mg, 80mg, 160mg capsules and film coated tablets of 40mg, 80mg, 160mg and 320mg, saying that the drugs have been recalled by NAFDAC.
Director General, CPC Babatunde Irukera, who gave the advice on Tuesday in Abuja, urged persons under these medications to check their medicines and ask questions of relevant professionals to ensure immediate discontinuation of the affected drugs; if currently under the administration of the same.
Irukera encourages citizens to conduct the necessary inquiries with respect to family members who may be taking this medication but may be unaware of the recall, or this Advisory.
The Council further advises distributors of this product(s) of their statutory obligation to notify the public of the risks associated with consumption and immediate withdrawal from the market, pursuant to Section 9(1) of the Consumer Protection Council Act. Violation of this obligation is an offense liable to a term of imprisonment upon conviction.
In the interim, the Council is taking steps to identify all such importers and distributors to ensure their full compliance with the law. According to him, “On 19th July, 2018, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC in exercise of its powers announced a recall of Valsartan, an anti-hypertension medication.
This recall was based on notification from the United Kingdom authorities about the potential contamination of Valsartan tablets, manufactured by Accord Healthcare, previously known as Actavis Group. Currently 22 countries including the European authorities and United States have also recalled Valsartan.
NAFDAC directed “all importers, wholesalers and retailers to immediately stop the importation, distribution and sale of these products”. NAFDAC further directed that Healthcare providers should stop the administration of these products to patients, because the drug is contaminated with genotoxic and carcinogenic potentials on account of changes in the manufacturing process of the active substance manufactured in China”.
