Yet another blood pressure medication has been recalled over concerns that it contains a small amount of a carcinogen.
Torrent Pharmaceuticals has recalled eight more lots of losartan potassium tablets, adding to the two lots that it recalled last month, USA Today reports. That means the company has recalled a total of 10 lots of the drug.
Torrent is recalling lots of the losartan product that contain N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) above the acceptable intake levels set by the FDA. The FDA notes on its site that NDEA occurs naturally in certain foods as well as drinking water, air pollution, and industrial processes.
The recalled drug is used to treat hypertension, hypertensive patients with Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and for the treatment of nephropathy in Type 2 diabetic patients. All of the recalled medication is sold in packaged bottles. The FDA has listed the batch and lot numbers as well as the expiration dates of the impacted bottles on its site.
If you’re someone who takes the drug, the FDA recommends continuing to take it despite the recall, because abruptly going off the drug could be more harmful than the carcinogens found in it.
Patients who do take losartan should contact their doctor or pharmacist about an alternative treatment.
Losartan also isn’t the only blood pressure drug to have been recalled over the past few months. Other drugs including valsartan, amlopidine, irbesartan, and hydrochlorothiazide have also been recalled in recent months.