Contains glass, generic Lipitor recalled

Contains glass, generic Lipitor recalled Because the drug may contain glass fragments and be contaminated, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals announced the recall of dozens of batches sold in the United States...

Containing glass, Lipitor generic drug recalled. Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals announced a recall of dozens of batches of Atorvastatin Calcium tablets of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor sold in the United States because the drug may contain glass fragments and be contaminated. Several factories of this Indian pharmaceutical company have experienced quality defects in the past few years, prompting the FDA to strengthen supervision of its operations and once banned the import of its products. The FDA also alleged that the company had provided false test results for more than 20 generic drugs it produced. Ranbaxy posted a notice on its U.S. website announcing that it is recalling atorvastatin calcium tablets in 10, 20 and 40 mg doses. This is the generic name for Lipitor. The recall covers 41 batches of product numbers, almost all of which contain 90 tablets per bottle, but three batches of product numbers contain 500 tablets per bottle. 80 mg dose tablets are not affected. Patients who use this drug can contact the pharmacy to confirm whether their drug comes from Ranbaxy or another generic pharmaceutical manufacturer. If it is a Ranbaxy product, they must further determine whether it belongs to the recalled batch. Lipitor was originally the best-selling cholesterol-lowering drug in the world, costing about 115 yuan a month. Its annual sales in the United States were nearly 8 billion yuan. However, its patent in the United States expired on November 30 last year. The FDA decided just before midnight on the day Lipitor's patent expired to let Ranbaxy sell the generic version of Lipitor that it makes at its Ohm Laboratories plant in central New Jersey. It's unclear whether the recall involves products made at this factory or elsewhere.