Generic Lipitor recall: Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, Lipitor manufacturer, has past FDA disputes, issues

The Food and Drug Administration advised concerned consumers Thursday to stop taking a popular cholesterol drug that may be contaminated with specks of glass if the pills came from one of 41 recalled lots.
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Posted: 11/27/2012

By: WPTV Web Team

UPDATE:

According to the Chicago Tribune, this is not the first time Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc., the maker of Lipitor, has faced controversy due to its products.

The report states shipments from some of Ranbaxy's manufacturing plants were banned in 2009 over a compliance-related problem. And earlier this year, Ranbaxy agreed to make changes at its plants to resolve the dispute with the (FDA).

Read that report here .

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CNN Wire Staff

A manufacturer of a popular cholesterol-reducing medication has recalled more than 40 batches of the product after warning that they may contain small particles of glass.

Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. says it is calling back bottles of its 10-, 20- and 40-milligram tablets of atorvastatin calcium, the generic version of the widely prescribed anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor. A total of 41 lots of 90- and 500-count bottles are subject to the recall, the company said.

"The recall is being conducted at the retail level for such select batches that may contain a foreign substance (small glass particles approximately less than 1mm in size)," Ranbaxy's U.S. subsidiary said in a statement on its website. "Ranbaxy is proactively recalling the drug product lots out of an abundance of caution, and in keeping the safety of our customers in mind."

A full list of the recalled lots can be found at http://ranbaxyusa.com/images/a.pdf

Ranbaxy said its action was taken "with the full knowledge" of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which granted the company its approval to manufacture the drug at a plant in New Jersey in 2011.

India-based Ranbaxy came under fire from FDA officials over conditions at two Indian plants in 2006 and 2008. That led to a January 2012 agreement with the Justice Department that cited the company for submitting false data to the FDA and barred the company from manufacturing drugs for the American market at those facilities until they could meet U.S. standards.