Masses in Canada who depend on a general heart drug have been asked to discuss with their pharmacist regarding the usage of it. This comes off after Health Canada opened the drug could have possibility of contamination of a carcinogen.

Health Canada announced Tuesday that different varieties of the drug called valsartan, which is sold by many companies in the country, are being recollected because of fear of contamination with N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). The International Agency for Research on Cancer has identified this chemical as a likely human carcinogen. Health Canada also opened in a public advisory that company Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceuticals provided the chemical to different companies for making the finished product.

Health Canada came to know about the issue first on June 27, but they made an effort to talk with drug makers to know the background of the issue before opening a public advisory, as indicated by spokesman on Tuesday.

The drug – Valsartan is originally used to cure high blood pressure, heart failure or for the patients who experienced a heart attack. As per IQVIA – company that collects data on pharmaceutical industry, over 2.5 million prescriptions for the drugs related to recall distributed in the country previous year. That signifies over 50% of the total 4.4 million prescriptions distributed the drugs of valsartan in Canada, as per IQVIA data.

An identical statement was made by the European Medicines Agency previous week. The press release stated about the existence of NDMA “is thought to be related to changes in the way the active substance was manufactured.”

It can’t be said if the recall will result in shortage of the drug because many companies in Canada manufacturing valsartan aren’t influenced by the recall.

There have been quite a number of shortages of drugs in the previous years, said Iris Krawchenko – a senior pharmacist adviser.

“This is an unfortunate recall that can affect many patients in Canada. Regrettably and unfortunately, pharmacists deal with these sorts of shortages and recalls all too often.” The pharmacist said.

The C.D Howe Institute’s June report stated that 1 in 10 drugs been in shortage in previous years, signifying the reason of issue in raw materials.

Health Canada is recommending the people of Canada relying on the valsartan drug to talk with the pharmacist and health care-taker to figure what steps to follow.

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