Poison in the pill
“The most infamous case of mold contamination caused 753 cases of fungal meningitis and 64 deaths. “Greenish-black foreign matter” was discovered in consignments of steroid injections, which were traced back to the processing plant”
America’s top pharmacies, including CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, pulled one of their top-selling drugs from the shelves last autumn. The drug, heartburn medication Zantac, was also banned in the UK, France and Canada, while authorities in Bangladesh refused to allow shipments into the country. Existing stocks in the UK were put in quarantine.
The ban followed a discovery by investigators at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that Zantac’s active ingredient, ranitidine, had been contaminated with NDMA (N-nitrosodimethylamine), a known cancer-causing agent (see box, page 28).
A CVS statement said the store was removing the drug“out
