Pfizer’s Lipitor recall widens
Pfizer has widen its recall of the cholesterol-fighting drug, Lipitor, after two more complaints of a musty odour emanating from the product’s bottles.
The drug major said it will recall an additional 38,000 bottles of Lipitor 40-milligram tablets which have been distributed in the US.
This most recent episode comes after two prior recalls commencing in August, and brings the total number of recalls associated with the product to around 369,000 bottles.
The uncharacteristic odour is thought to be caused by 2,4,6-Tribromoanisole (TBA) , a wood preservative used in shipping pallets to store trace quantities of which have been detected in the recalled Lipitor bottles.
TBA is also thought to be responsible for the same musty odour that led US healthcare major Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to recall several lots of its painkiller Tylenol earlier this year.
