2012 – The blood-pressure medication valsartan is thought to have been contaminated with the cancer-causing, rocket-fuel chemical NDMA as far back as 2012.
European regulators warned last year the medication’s main manufacturer in China – Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical – changed its manufacturing process seven years ago, which may have been to blame.
July 5, 2018 – The UK recalled the drug over growing concerns.
Many EU authorities then followed suit.
The European Medicines Agency said it was working to establish how long, and at what levels, patients might have been exposed to NDMA.
July 17 – The US Food and Drug Administration ordered a ban on valsartan’s prescription.
July 30 – China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission said the drug must not be used for diagnosis or treatment.
January 3, 2019 – The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recalled thousands of medications containing the blood-pressure drug irbesartan over NDEA fears.
The government-run body issued an alert over four batches of the medication and pulled the products – made by Actavis, now known as Accord – as a ‘precautionary measure’.
January 23, 2019 – Prinston Pharmaceutical Inc, a medicine company in the US, announced it was voluntarily recalling irbesartan and irbesartan HCTZ after finding higher levels of NDEA in them than the Food and Drug Administration permits.
January 24, 2019 – The UK’s MHRA issued a further recall of three more batches of irbesartan, this time concerning 150mg and 300mg film-coated tablets supplied by Macleods Pharma UK.
March 12, 2019 – The Food and Drug Administration in the US rushed to try and approve new generic versions of valsartan amid a shortage caused by contamination problems leading to recalls.
March 21, 2019 – MHRA recalls three batches of losartan, a blood pressure medication, amid concerns it could be contaminated by a chemical known as NMBA, which has only surfaced this month in a factory in India.