Drug Recall (Excedrin) Update

Back in January, Novartis did a voluntary recall of several of its over-the-counter medications - Drug Recall: Excedrin, NoDoz, Bufferin, Gas-X. It's July, and these meds still aren't back on the shelves.

The drug recall has spurred a black market for Excedrin formulas. A bottle of Excedrin is going for upwards of $200 on sites like eBay! I suppose this blows my mind even more because Excedrin does absolutely nothing for my migraines. But, I know there are people out there that find it to be the only medicine that helps their headaches.

In a statement, Novartis said it was "working very hard to return products to store shelves." Production is expected to restart production on a "line-by-line, product-by-product basis" to assure quality, and hopes to start restocking some products in the second half of 2012.

Anyone considering purchasing these medications online needs to proceed with extreme caution. Purchasing meds online is risky, since it's not being controlled and you can't be sure of the supplier. Hopefully, Novartis will get these products back on the shelves in the next few months.

Public Health Advisory: Mix-Up of Opiate Products

A public health advisory regarding potential safety risk with opiate products has been issued:

FDA is advising healthcare professionals and patients of a potential problem with opiate products manufactured and packaged for Endo Pharmaceuticals by Novartis Consumer Health at its Lincoln, Nebraska manufacturing site. Due to problems that occurred when these products were packaged and labeled at the site, tablets from one product type may have carried over into packaging of another product. This could result in a stray pill of one medicine ending up in the bottle of another product.

The following products are included:

• Opana ER (oxymorphone hydrochloride) Extended-Release Tablets CII
• Opana (oxymorphone hydrochloride) CII
• Oxymorphone hydrochloride Tablets CII
• PERCOCET (oxycodone hydrochloride and acetaminophen USP) Tablets CII
• PERCODAN (oxycodone hydrochloride and aspirin, USP) Tablets CII
• ENDOCET (oxycodone hydrochloride and acetaminophen USP) Tablets CII
• ENDODAN (oxycodone hydrochloride and aspirin, USP) Tablets CII
• MORPHINE SULFATE Extended-Release Tablets CII
• ZYDONE (hydrocodone bitartrate/acetaminophen tablets, USP) CIII

Please be sure to check the contents of your prescriptions carefully. All of the pills in the bottle should look the same. If the pills don't look like what you normally take or if you find any pills that are different in shape, size, color, or markings, take them to your pharmacist right away.

Endo Pharmaceuticals has provided a visual guide of the affected drugs that you can download if you would like to double check the tablets in your prescription: Endo Pharmaceuticals Opioid Guide.

Drug Recall: Excedrin, NoDoz, Bufferin, Gas-X

Due to concerns about broken or incorrect tablets winding up in pill bottles, Novartis is voluntarily recalling some bottles of Excedrin, NoDoz, Gas-X Prevention, and Bufferin.

According to the Novartis website:

Novartis Consumer Health (NCH) is voluntarily recalling all lots of select bottle sizes of Excedrin® and NoDoz® products with expiry dates of December 20, 2014 or earlier as well as Bufferin® and Gas-X® Prevention® products with expiry dates of December 20, 2013 or earlier, in the United States.

More information about the recall (including the full list of recalled products) and how you can obtain a refund for any of these products that you may have already purchased, you can visit the Novartis OTC Consumer Product Update Website.