The Food and Drug Administration has issued an alert to health care providers and patients about voluntary recalls of ranitidine (Zantac) from three separate companies because of the potential of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in the medicine.
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According to the FDA alert, Perrigo is recalling over-the-counter ranitidine tablets of all sizes, Novitium Pharma is recalling all unexpired quantities and lots of ranitidine hydrochloride capsules, and Lannett is recalling all unexpired lots of prescription ranitidine syrup (ranitidine oral solution (15 mg/mL).
Patients who are using over-the-counter ranitidine should consider switching to an alternative, such as famotidine, cimetidine, esomeprazole, lansoprazole, and omeprazole, the FDA noted. None of these medications have shown evidence of containing NDMA.
The alert is the fifth update on ranitidine since the initial FDA announcement that NDMA had been found in ranitidine on Sept. 13, 2019.
The recent FDA safety alerts on ranitidine might be causing concern among your patients about their heartburn treatment. AGA offers key points that you can share with your patients at www.gastro.org/news/talking-to-your-patients-about-ranitidine.
