Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drugmaker, recalled 1 million packs of birth-control pills after discovering a packaging error that may cause women to take the wrong dosages and put them at risk for unintended pregnancies.
The company recalled 14 lots of Lo/Ovral-28
tablets and 14 lots of a generic version of the medicine, New York-based
Pfizer said today in an e-mail. About 1 million packs of 28 tablets
were withdrawn, Grace Ann Arnold, a Pfizer spokeswoman, said in a
separate e-mail.
The tablets, manufactured and packaged by Pfizer,
were marketed by closely held Akrimax Rx Products of Cranford, New
Jersey under the Akrimax Pharmaceuticals brand.
Each pack contains 21 white tablets that contain
the synthetic hormones norgestrel and ethinyl estradiol and are taken
for 21 consecutive days. The remaining seven tablets are inactive pink
pills taken for a week.
“An investigation by Pfizer found that some
blister packs may contain an inexact count of inert or active
ingredient- tablets and that the tablets may be out of sequence,” the
company said. That could cause women to take an incorrect daily dosage
and increase the risk of accidental pregnancy.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-31/pfizer-recalls-1-million-birth-control-packs-on-dose-mix-up.html
