Department of Registration and Control of Medicines and Phytosanitary Drugs has suspended the sale of certain ranitidine medications, and called for their immediate withdrawal from pharmacy shelves.
Revealing the suspension, the Assistant Undersecretary for Drug and Food Control Affairs at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdullah Al-Bader, said that ranitidine medications were being removed from shelves as a precautionary measure, following preliminary results from analyses conducted by the ministry.
Ranitidine medications that are sold under the brand name Zantac among others are usually prescribed for the treatment of acidity and reflux.
Reports by the US Food and Drug Administration, as well as from the European Commission on Medicines, have shown that these medications contain low levels of NDMA, a substance that is believed to cause cancer in some individuals.
Al-Bader noted: “International health authorities are currently studying to determine the permitted safe proportions of NDMA in food products and pharmaceuticals. Until the completion of these investigations and in order to ensure the health and safety of patients in Kuwait, we have decided to remove these medications. Any further developments or procedures in this regard will be announced as soon as they are available.”
In the meantime, patients using ranitidine medications have been advised to consult their physician to seek alternate prescriptions and to report any side effects of pharmaceuticals through the Drug Side Effects Reporting Form available on the Ministry of Health website.
