to feel really concerned by the Zantac withdrawal?

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

Rantidine is subject to a worldwide withdrawal due to possible contamination with a probably carcinogen, NDMA. The European regulator is still considering the issue but it seems likely it has gone on for years and across brands.

Firstly, can ANYTHING be trusted any more? It looks like raw materials were made in China and then taken to India and no one noticed the issues and it took an online pharmacy to bother to test the drug. How do these things happen? Why aren’t drugs tested properly? Why is it always maximum profit at any cost?

Secondly, I’m particularly sad and upset as one of my babies was in this drug for months due to awful silent reflux. I felt huge guilt at the time but felt overall the benefits outweighed the risks. And now desperately concerned that I won’t know if she received the contaminant.

It is all being downplayed and there is talk if “low Levels” but in reality they aren’t low at all.

Hi OP, please don't panic just yet. They are low levels - one report I saw said that they were similar levels to those found in several other foodstuffs naturally. And I'm saying this as someone who regularly takes Ranitidine myself for a health condition. The doses that have caused cancer in rats are really high doses.

They are also not yet sure if it's a contaminant or a breakdown product of the active ingredient.

op try not to worry.

the substance found is something that's very common. it's in every food we eat.
it comes from a chemical reaction.
yes, medicines should be controlled to be (almost) free of it, but it's difficult to control. I suspect more medicines will now be checked for it.

Thanks and appreciate your responses.

I am naturally distrustful anyway and I feel this has made me even worse. It’s perhaps in loads of drugs but no one bothered testing them?

It just makes you question everything we give to our kids and ourselves.

It looks like as if the private pharmacy hadn’t tested the batches then it could have gone on for years. It makes you wonder how utterly ineffective the regulatory process is.

What happens if it’s in vaccines? Paracetamol? Who is testing those I wonder? 😪😪

As with all medicine, there are risks with long term use, combined effects if taken with other medication etc. It's also the case that the ingredients found in some medication also occur naturally in the foods we eat (eg fruit, vegetables), even in industrial processes such as water purification.

It is worrying but it's very important to research several good sources of information and view the research in context.

This is the headline advice given

The FDA announced today that certain ranitidine heartburn medications, including Zantac, may contain traces of a cancer-causing chemical known as N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA)

The agency is currently looking into the health risks associated with the amount of NDMA identified in the drugs and will post more information as it learns more.

As of now, the FDA isn’t recommending people stop taking ranitidine, but those who’d like to switch medications should talk to their doctors about other treatment options.

www.healthline.com/health-news/fda-warns-zantac-may-have-carcinogen#The-bottom-line

But I don’t trust that advice from the FDA. They were pushed into a withdrawal by the pharmacy that did the testing. In some samples, the limits were thousands of times higher.

This medicine is given to tiny babies. The effects therefore will surely be hugely more damaging.

The ingredients in vaccines are absolutely shocking. If you’re concerned about this you should be very concerned about most vaccines.

Thank you for posting OP. Both my DD's were on ranitidine as babies now nearly 2 and 5 so probably took these infected batches.
I will be reading and following the progress of this now. Thank you for drawing it to my attention.

medicines are very tightly controlled and regulated.
regularly the manufacturers are inspected.
I am not anti medicines - they help millions of people.
with all medicines I take the 'as much as necessary - as short time as possible.

It’s perhaps in loads of drugs but no one bothered testing them?

It isn't as simple as that.

It isn't the case that tests are not carried out - in general terms for drugs to be available in UK and US markets, testing must be carried out. It's the interpretation of the data that's crucial. There have been historic contentions that data from drug trials are reported in a biased way.

Furthermore, there is a need to continue with toxicity tests in large populations after the drugs are launched as this provides ongoing evidence of the cumulative effects of drugs in the human body over a long period (called epidemiology studies).

If you are concerned then the best advice is to work with your GP on an alternative drug, and only use the medication for a very limited period not over the long term. There's no easy answer. Everything we ingest can cause side effects, the only other alternative is not to take anything but that involves suffering with the symptoms which is just as bad!

I don’t want to start an anti-vaccine debate...

It does make you question even the sourcing of the raw ingredients. In the nicest way, China’s record in medicine production is not good and if the vaccine additives are done China then what else is going on? Maybe I’m utterly wrong but if people don’t trust the system then you end up with people not trusting mainstream medicine.

I have a five year old and am also watching with interest. I’m amazed the U.K. hasn’t issued anything yet. I can’t even work out how the U.K. drug is sourced/manufactured.

My child is no longer on the drug. I weaned her off it as soon as I could. I have no way of knowing which batch she took. I’m so cross and angry at this utterly shite capitalist corruption.

I don’t think they are red. Several blood pressure medicines were recalled earlier this year for the same reason.

But it seems this all only came to light as independent pharmacy did some random testing?!

I've taken it for 15 years! The acid would be far more risky, excess acid causes cancer.

importing the active ingredients from china/india certainly is an issue.
especially if the manufacurer themselves are not involved.

But it seems this all only came to light as independent pharmacy did some random testing?!

So if you know anything about science, OP, you'll know that conducting tests is a long and rigorous process. You have no way of knowing how the 'independent pharmacy' carried out their tests nor how they analysed the results and drew conclusions, nor now they ran the clinical trials that gave the data that you are presumably talking about.

I think you're panicking needlessly and randomly with no more basis of fact than the people and organisations you are criticising. FDA has clearly stated they are still investigating the matter, and haven't yet come to a definitive conclusion.

Several blood pressure medicines were recalled earlier this year for the same reason

Someone on blood pressure medication are far more likely to die sooner of a heart attack or stroke by not controlling their BP with medication, than getting cancer (that may not even happen).

@daisychain01 one of the reports I read actually said that the independent testing hadn't confirmed exactly which tablets and what levels they'd found in them, which isn't very helpful either 🤷

I don’t think that blood pressure controlling medication and carcinogenicity tainted medicines should be an either/or. It should be possible to produce drugs effectively without this issue (demonstrated by the fact that not all ranitidine brands are effected and it seems to be a Chinese/Indian manufacturing issue)

The FDA would have happily done nothing had the third party pharmacy supplier not forced their hand. And no other tests picked up on the issue.

How do we know hundreds of medications aren’t similarly affected? Who do we trust?

The reason measles is on the rise is precisely because people don’t trust statements of “safety” from governing bodies or companies any more.

@Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow I am extremely worried about this issue also. I am checking for updates several times a day. My baby took this medicine late last year /early this year. It’s not clear if it’s the tablets or everything (inc the syrup)????? And I agree, surely the affects would be more on a small baby????? Xx

Ive taken Ranitidine every day for nearly 20 years. I was very overweight and the GP told me if i lost weight it would help. So i lost ten stone. (for other reasons as well as this one) yet still had the acid reflux. Losing all that weight didnt change a thing in this regard.

@Star39 The Syrup is affected I’m afraid, as are injections and prescription tablets (150mg and 300mg). The 75mg ones are not (ones sold in chemists/supermarkets).

Found this in an article in the Guardian earlier this week that said:

Britain’s medicines watchdog said GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was recalling four prescription-only Zantac medicines – a syrup, an injection and tablets of 150mg and 300mg dosages – over an potential carcinogen called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA)

Over-the-counter 75mg dosage Zantac products are produced by a different company and are not affected by the recall, it added.

Link to Guardian article

I’ve was prescribed Ranitidine a couple of years ago as I started getting a rash on omeprazole. A weird thing about this is that about 14 months ago, I forgot to take my prescribed tablets with me on a trip away, so I went to a chemist and bought a few packs of the over the counter 75mg ones to tide me over as it was the easiest thing to do.

Took two at a time to match prescribed dosage. Found them much easier to take as they taste different- less of a bitter taste and just felt more at ease taking them. I was really reluctant to start taking the prescription ones again when I got back.

So I just started buying the Zantac 75mg ones myself and taking them instead. Felt so strongly about it I didn’t mind the extra cost (lucky to be in that position I know). I thought about going to GP and asking to be prescribed the Zantac ones instead but didn’t want to cost the NHS extra, explain “my feeling” etc.

At the time I put to down to the prescription being a generic drug and the Zantac ones being a proper brand, or the tablets being an easier size to swallow or something. Just had a really strong feeling they were better for me/more effective, but couldn’t put my finger on it. Tried a couple of times to make myself go back to the prescription ones I had left but just couldn’t do it. With the shocking info that has just come out it’s a bit spooky.

In case it’s helpful for anyone still on ranitidine, earlier this week I looked into alternatives and there are other H2 blocking drugs available that are (to current knowledge) unaffected:
Article on possible substitute drug

I made an appointment with my GP for later this month to discuss this, and I know I’ll be asking about the drugs mentioned in the article as alternatives. Especially as I can’t go back onto Omeprazole/any PPI drug as I have already had a bad reaction to them.

Fingers crossed the other H2 options aren’t just the next ones to be discovered to be unsafe (although I fucking damn well hope someone us investigating their safety as a matter of urgency).

I’m also just waiting for a rash of class action lawsuits in a few years.

Fingers crossed for everyone.

Just had a look online, the lawsuits are starting already in the US.

So if all formats are being recalled (tablets, injection and syrup) then it can’t be the manufacturing methods as each would be manufactured differently. It must be either the raw ingredient of ranitidine or just the fact that ranitidine May break down into NDMA itself. If the latter is the case then how on earth has this not been picked up before?????

Further to my research I also discovered that the liquid has a 28 day shelf life once opened - no one told me this (dr it pharmacy) so I have it to my baby longer!!!!!!! It may be in the patient info leaflet but in all honesty, who reads that??? So now I am worried about that too. X

It’s also very confusing because Zantac in the US is owned by a different company - Sanofi whereas in the UK it’s GSK. I feel sick every time I think about it and I feel incredibly guilty giving my baby this medicine. I’m checking for updates every day and it’s really affecting me day to day. I know there are 100s if people who took this medicine at high doses for long periods of time but these are babies. I do t know what to do x

Contact your pharmacy. I did and the type my baby is on isn’t affected.

I did - she was the one who told me she had the generic and the Zantac. She then said speak to my GP - I’m reluctant to speak to my GP as what can they tell me that I don’t already know? They know probably just as much as me in this topic.