Community Pharmacy England (CPE) yesterday (October 29) announced that one batch of Labetalol 200mg tablets has been recalled by manufacturer Tillomed Laboratories Limited.
This was done “as a precautionary measure due to potential mix-up at the manufacturing site”, it said.
According to CPE, “a limited number of packs could contain the incorrect medicine”.
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Tillomed Laboratories received “one single market complaint” about the beta blocker medicine after a “blister strip of Vera-Til SR 240mg tables” – used to treat hypertension – was found with the blister strips of Labetalol, it added.
Both products were manufactured at the same site, CPE said, and the error “appears to have occurred during secondary packaging of the blister strips into the cartons”.
There have been “no other similar reports” related to this batch, which was first distributed in May this year, according to CPE.
“Identify and immediately contact patients”
Images issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) illustrate the differences between the round orange Labetalol and light green oblong Vera-Til SR blister strips and tablets.
The alert advised pharmacies to stop supplying the affected batch “immediately”, quarantine “all remaining stock” and return it to their supplier.
It added that pharmacists should “identify and immediately contact all patients” who had received the impacted batch and “ask them to confirm if they have remaining stock within their possession”.
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“If batch traceability information is not available, all patients dispensed this product from May 2024 should be contacted,” it said, adding that pharmacists should also “consider contacting the patient’s GP or prescriber and discuss if a new prescription is required”.
Patients should be advised to check the batch number of their beta blocker medicine and return any packs with “incorrect blister strips” to their pharmacy, CPE said.
However, it added that the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) has confirmed that as the beta blocker is a prescription-only medicine (POM), patients will need a new prescription for the “dispensing of a replacement product”.
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And NHS England (NHSE) clinical lead and community pharmacist Darren Powell pointed out on X that “sadly where patients pay for NHS prescriptions, a charge for the new prescription will apply”.
The alert also said that patients who “may have taken” Vera-Til SR should have their treatment reviewed and a “suitable alternative product” prescribed.
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Those who have “accidentally taken” Vera-Til SR must “seek immediate medical advice” and “may require monitoring”, CPE said.
The affected batch, which has a pack size of 56 tablets, is batch number 240537 and expires in February 2027, it said.
It comes after a batch of anti-seizure medicine was last week recalled after a patient discovered a small piece of metal inside a tablet.