Chinese blood pressure pills sold in US recalled over cancer-linked ingredient
Company raises alarm, voluntarily suspends supplies in international market after detecting impurity
A listed Chinese pharmaceutical firm that makes and sells generic drugs to the global market including the US and Europe, has recalled some of its products after finding that they may have been tainted by a cancer-causing substance.
Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical – a major supplier of the active ingredient valsartan that it uses to make a generic blood pressure drug – raised the alarm and voluntarily suspended its supplies in the international market after detecting an impurity, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in the product.
Huahai is a Shanghai-listed company based in Linhai, Zhejiang province.
Valsartan medicines are used to treat patients with high blood pressure to reduce complications such as heart attack and stroke. They are also used by patients who have had heart failure or a recent heart attack.
NDMA is classified as a probable human cancer-causing substance and is not expected to be found in the drug.
Huahai-produced active valsartan substances, sales of which topped 328.3 million yuan (US$49 million) last year, are mainly sold to North America, Europe, India, Russia and South America, according to a series of statements released by the firm over the past week.