Media release from Mylan New Zealand

Today Mylan New Zealand recalled all strengths of Pacific Atenolol tablets and they are asking community pharmacists to contact patients who have been dispensed this medicine since 1 January 2010. This is in addition to the patient level recall of Pacific Atenolol 50mg tablets on 13 May.

This is the fourth medicine recall this year and will affect an estimated 43,000 patients throughout New Zealand.

Unlike the recall on 13 May, that requested GPs to contact all patients, community pharmacists have been asked by Mylan NZ to manage this recall.

"Community pharmacists' primary concern is patient safety and they take their role as medicines experts very seriously," says Annabel Young, CE of the Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand (the Guild).  

"They will utilise their time and expertise to swiftly manage this recall."

Today's recall is due to the identification of several underweight tablets, while 13 May's recall was due to the identification of several overweight tablets. Community pharmacists have not been informed of the specific clinical risks associated with taking the affected tablets. Medsafe has triggered the recall of all affected medicines.

"We need to understand what is generating these recalls," says Annabel. "Is it the purchase process undertaken by PHARMAC, the clinical guidelines used by Medsafe or some other factor?"

"There are no clear procedures in place around who should be managing recalls. And there is no sector agreement around how pharmacy - or any other health professional - is to be compensated for the time involved in managing recalls. This means that recent medicine recalls have been managed on an ad-hoc basis by community pharmacists. Why is the cost of this work falling onto community pharmacists when they are not the producers of the medicine and are not responsible for the purchase decision?

"We need clear answers as to what triggers a patient level recall as well as some clear guidelines about who is to bear the cost of the work involved."

Mylan NZ recommends patients continue to take their tablets until replacement tablets can be obtained. If the tablets appear larger or smaller than normal, do not take them and contact your community pharmacist for advice.