***FDA SAYS counterfeit LIPITOR RECALLED (3 lot no. counterfeit pills -- take back to pharmacy)

Reuters ^ | May 23, 2003 | Reuters

[FairOpinion]

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers and health professionals on Friday to check for three counterfeit lots of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor that are being recalled by a Kansas City-based distributor. The counterfeit Lipitor posed a potentially significant health hazard and was being voluntarily recalled by Albers Medical Distributors Inc., the FDA said in a statement.

Consumers should not take any tablets from packages with labels saying "Repackaged by: MED-PRO, Inc. Lexington, Neb.," with lot numbers 20722V, 04132V and 16942V, the FDA said.

All the lots contain 90-tablet bottles. An FDA spokeswoman said the agency was still trying to determine how many bottles were in each lot.

Also unclear was just where in the United States the counterfeit Lipitor had been sent. Albers referred inquiries to Doug Albers who was said to be unavailable until Tuesday.

A man answering the phone at Med-Pro's offices declined to comment, saying he had no information.

Lipitor is the world's best-selling medicine, earning drug maker Pfizer Inc. PFE.N $8 billion in sales last year.

"As part of the FDA's ongoing efforts to investigate and address unscrupulous counterfeiting activities, FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations is investigating the existence of counterfeit Lipitor," the FDA said.

Pfizer spokesman Andrew McCormick said the company has seen an increase in counterfeiting of its products.

Viagra, the impotency treatment made by Pfizer, is frequently targeted by counterfeiters. Earlier this week the FDA said 1,200 envelopes of unapproved Viagra pills from Belize had mistakenly been allowed into the country.

[FairOpinion]

I figured this is important for those who may be taking it.

Isn't that just awful how low some people stoop, to counterfeit medications, which may result in serious health problems.

And apparently this is not an isolated incident: "Pfizer said the company has seen an increase incounterfiting its products" and I am sure other drug manufacturers have the same experience.

[buffyt]

THANKS FOR THE HEAD UP! My dear hubby of 30 years takes that drug. I will go check his pill bottle NOW!

[gitmo]

Thanks, FO! You could save someone's life.

[Oorang]

If your husbands pill bottle is like my husbands pill bottle it won't have the necessary info on it. It is a 30 day supply and has the regular pharmacy label on it. Call your pharmacist and they should be able to tell you if they received any of the lots that are being recalled. Thats what I did and they were able to tell me right away that everything was okay.

[buffyt]

We don't get the bottle with the serial numbers on it. Just a prescription bottle. Hopefully WalGreens checks on things like that when they get a recall......?????

[buffyt]

OK, Thanks!!!!!! I would hate to lose him. No one else would put up with me! LOL Been together since we were 19.

[Oorang]

Thanks for posting this. I saw it on the 11pm news and meant to call the pharmacist today but forgot till I saw your thread.

[Cicero]

Thanks. I'll check my label.

I think the 90-tablet bottle is standard for insurance plans that send out three months supply at a time.

[Oorang]

You have a very scary tag line (LOL)

[FairOpinion]

It's really up to the patient, the drugstore may not notify you. The best bet is to take back the pills to the drugstore and have them look at them to see if those are the counterfeit ones or not.

[buffyt]

I am looking on all of our receipts for our prescriptions to see what info is there. They do have the manuf. name and some kind of number on each one.

[buffyt]

Do you think the pharmacies would know about the recall since it is US Drug doing it

[Oorang]

Well, I called our pharmisist as soon as I saw this thread and they said they had already checked the recalled lot numbers with their records and they had not received any of those lots so they were okay.

[gitmo]

I called Caremark, my prescription drug supplier. They said this is a substantial health risk. They said they do not purchase any products repackaged by Med-Pro and their Rxs are not at risk.

[Catspaw]

The guy in the office next to me takes Lipitor. I emailed him about it, and will show him the article(s) on Tuesday if he hasn't seen the warning already.

[lelio]

Hopefully WalGreens checks on things like that when they get a recall
It can't hurt to call and ask. When calling I would ask what distributor they get their drugs from so you don't sound like a neophyte that they can blow off.

[Howlin]

My dear hubby of 30 years takes that drug.

Well, duh.....so does my husband and I didn't even THINK about it until I saw your post! Thanks.

[Amerigomag]

Isn't that just awful how low some people stoop, to counterfeit medications

Actually this is probably the real drug, manufacured in accordance with US standards. The difference is that it is made in India.

India produces the same drug at 1/10th the price using the same standards of production the FDA requires.

India has long been a thorn in the side of US drug manufacturers. India analysizes the US product and then produces an exact duplicate without the cost of the R&D and without the almost criminal profits that the US manufactureres are able to get.

[FairOpinion]

I think if it were only a question of it being made somewhere else, unathorized, they wouldn't have said:

"The counterfeit Lipitor posed a potentially significant health hazard."

I think in another article I read that there is no medication in the counterfeit tablets.

[Spunky]

My husbands, doctor just increased the miligrams on my husbands Lipitor so he gave him a sample bottle to try out.

That sample bottle does have a no. on it of 04243V.

Apparently it is not in the recall but if you have samples be sure and check them out.