Drug Recalls: Certain OTC products recalled for potential presence of foreign or broken tablets, gelcaps

Drug Recalls 2012: Popular OTC products recalled

Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. (NCH) on Sunday issued a US-wide recall of certain bottled versions of its four over-the-counter products.

NCH said it is voluntarily recalling all lots of select bottle packaging configurations of Excedrin® and NoDoz® products with expiry dates of December 20, 2014 or earlier as well as Bufferin® and Gas-X Prevention® products with expiry dates of December 20, 2013 or earlier, in the United States.

The recall is being conducted as a precautionary measure since the products may contain stray tablets, capsules, or caplets from other Novartis products, or contain broken or chipped tablets.

According to NCH, mixing of different products in the same bottle could result in consumers taking the incorrect product and receiving a higher or lower strength than intended or receiving an unintended ingredient. This could potentially result in overdose, interaction with other medications a consumer may be taking, or an allergic reaction if the consumer is allergic to the unintended ingredient. NCH is not aware of adverse events reported with the issues leading to the recall.

The company said it has notified its distributors and retailers. It has also voluntarily suspended operations and shipments from its Lincoln, Nebraska, facility to rectify the problems at the site.

Consumers that have the product(s) being recalled should stop using the product(s) and contact the Novartis Consumer Relationship Center at 1-888-477-2403 (available Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time) for information on how to return the affected products and receive a full refund, NCH continued.

Consumers can find more information on the website http://www.novartis-otc.com/otc/index.html.