A pharmaceutical company said some of its blood pressure medication is being recalled after the presence of a cancer-causing agent was discovered in two lots, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Dec. 20.
Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited said it is voluntarily recalling two lots of Losartan potassium tablets, used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension), after traces of N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) were discovered. NDEA is a known cause of cancer and occurs naturally in “certain foods, drinking water, air pollution, and industrial processes, and has been classified as a probable human carcinogen,” the FDA stated. The active pharmaceutical ingredient, which contains the NDEA, was manufactured by Hetero Labs Limited.
