Thousands of Manitobans affected by heart, blood-pressure drug recall By: Kevin Rollason  Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Jul. 16, 2018

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/07/2018 (2732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thousands of Manitobans are taking heart and high blood pressure drugs with an impurity that could cause cancer.

But, even though Health Canada has recalled several varieties of valsartan, a generic drug, Manitobans and Canadians are being told not to stop taking them until a replacement drug is prescribed for them.

Barret Procyshyn, president of Pharmacists Manitoba, said Monday that there are about 10,000 Manitobans who currently have been prescribed drugs that contain valsartan.

Procyshyn said his organization is notifying all of its members about the recall and what to do.

“We’re dealing with it, but it’s a struggle,” he said. “There are up to 10,000 Manitobans on this medication. We’re dealing with it one person at a time… we can do everything except give it (alternative drug) out.”

Last week Health Canada announced it was pulling several drugs after it was determined that the valsartan manufacturer in China, which supplied the product to five drug companies to make the drugs, had the impurity N-nitrosodimethylamine in it — a potential human carcinogen.

Twenty-two other countries have taken similar action.

Health Canada said the drug could cause cancer “with long-term exposure.”

Health Canada is telling people to keep using their drugs, even if they contain valsartan, “unless you have been told to stop by your doctor or pharmacist.”

As well, Health Canada is saying people taking the recalled product should “contact your health-care practitioner as soon as possible to discuss your treatment options.”

“There are up to 10,000 Manitobans on this medication. We’re dealing with it one person at a time… we can do everything except give it (alternative drug) out.”–Barret Procyshyn

But Procyshyn said another worry is when thousands of Manitobans — and many more across the country — go back to a pharmacy to get their new medication.

“We hope the generic drug manufacturers can get enough of the alternatives,” he said. “There are going to be a lot of people switching in the next few weeks.

“This will cause pressure.”

Manitoba Health is also addressing another possible pressure — thousands of patients rushing to see their doctor in a short period of time.

A letter to physicians dated July 12 from Patricia Caetano, executive director of Manitoba’s provincial drug programs, said the drug recall “will result in a shortage of unknown duration and therefore, new starts of valsartan should be avoided, whenever possible.”

Caetano said because patients will likely first go to a pharmacy with questions before going to their doctor, “if there is a pharmacy that your patients most commonly use, please consider contacting them to develop a protocol for efficiently managing treatment changes as necessary.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca