Legacy Pharmaceuticals recalled 43 lots of losartan March 15, becoming the latest drugmaker to recall the blood pressure medication due to the detection of a potentially carcinogenic impurity.
The recalls affect three lots of losartan manufactured by Torrent Pharmaceuticals and 40 lots of losartan manufactured by Camber Pharmaceuticals.
In both cases, trace amounts of N-Nitroso N-Methyl 4-aminobutyric acid were detected in the medication. NMBA is a known animal carcinogen, and may cause cancer in humans.
This is the second recall issued due to the presence of NMBA. On March 1, Hetero Labs in India issued a recall of 87 lots of the tablets.
While this is only the second recall linked to the presence of NMBA, there have been two other likely carcinogenic impurities — N-Nitrosodimethylamine and N-Nitrosodiethylamine — detected in generic blood pressure drugs irbesartan and valsartan. As a result, there have been hundreds of recalls of generic blood pressure medications.
Find more about the recall notices here.