Boehringer Ingelheim quietly culls decades-old hypertension med after October recall

After a subpar testing outcome impressed Boehringer Ingelheim to tug a number of batches of a long-established blood strain med, the corporate has determined to halt manufacturing for good. 

Three doses of Boehringer Ingelheim’s hypertension drug Catapres, also referred to as clonidine hydrochloride, are in brief provide, in line with a discover posted to the FDA’s web site Wednesday. However with a plethora of generics on faucet, that’s no downside for sufferers, BI figures. Now, the corporate has determined to quietly cull the decades-old product.

Catapres 0.1-mg, 0.2-mg and 0.3-mg tablets are in brief provide already, because of a voluntary class 2 recall on seven batches of the drug, which was issued in October, a BI spokesperson stated by e-mail.

“Additional, we now have made the FDA conscious that we determined to discontinue future manufacturing of Catapres,” the spokesperson stated. “There are generic options of clonidine accessible, and if a affected person has any problem getting Catapres, they need to contact their healthcare supplier to debate alternate remedy choices.“

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BI triggered the October recall—which covers 4 suspect batches of the 0.1-mg pill, 2 batches of the 0.2-mg tablets and one batch of 0.3-mg tablets—as a precaution following an extraneous peak from a dissolution testing outcome, the spokesperson stated. The corporate doesn’t suppose the outcome places sufferers in danger and has really useful folks on Catapres proceed taking their remedy as directed.

Provides of different clonidine merchandise stay intact, in line with the FDA’s drug scarcity record, and the recall included no different BI meds, the spokesperson stated. A slate of firms produce copycat variations of the drug, together with generics big Teva. 

RELATED: Frontida will get warning letter for plant it simply purchased from Solar

It is not the primary time a clonidine drugmaker has run into issues. Again in 2017, the FDA hit Frontida BioPharm with a warning letter on a Philadelphia plant it had picked up from Solar Pharma. Earlier than the sale, Solar had “knowingly launched 27 a number of numerous strengths of clonidine HCL tablets,” regardless of proof that the API within the drug “was doubtlessly contaminated,” an FDA warning letter stated.