HHP Medication Safety Watch: July 2023

This list contains selected items from the full FDA list of recalls, withdrawals, and alerts for medicines and certain health products. We've provided links to FDA information for each product and its maker. Unless otherwise noted, these actions apply only to the specific brand name of the product listed. Talk to your healthcare provider before stopping or changing any medicines or treatments that they have recommended for you.

• Prescription medicines

Prescription medicines

Inhaler for asthma may deliver too little medicine

• Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Aerosol, 90 mcg, 200 metered inhalations (maker: Cipla Limited)

Comment: Six batches of this product have been recalled because a defect in the inhaler may cause it to deliver a lower-than-expected dose of medicine. This medicine treats sudden asthma attacks. If the dose of albuterol is too low, symptoms of wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath may not improve. Because asthma attacks can be fatal, undertreatment of an attack can be life-threatening.

Birth control pills recalled due to purity and stability concerns

• Tydemy (drospirenone, ethinyl estradiol, and levomefolate calcium tablets) (maker: Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)

Comment: Two lots of these birth control pills have been recalled because testing a year after production detected an impurity and a lower-than-expected amount of an ingredient. This raises concerns that the pills may be contaminated and unstable over time, and may not prevent pregnancy.

Tydemy is a birth control pill containing estrogen, progestin, and folic acid. It is prescribed to prevent pregnancy and raise folic acid levels.

Read additional issues of HHP Medication Safety Watch