110,000 boxes of antibiotics recalled in France
Pharmacists must return stocks, but individuals should not in theory have any faulty medicines in their homes
Patients are unlikely to have stocks of the medicine in their cabinet
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110,000 boxes of Amoxicillin, France’s most common antibiotic, have been recalled, due to a bacteria present in some batches which exceeds authorised standards.
France’s medical safety authority Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament (ANSM) announced the recall in a press release yesterday.
Four lots of Amoxicillin are affected, three of which are marketed by Teva Santé and one by Sandoz.
Batches with the lot numbers MT2985, MS8574, MS8584 (Teva Santé) and MR8824 (Sandoz) are those affected.
All boxes are in the 1g dispersible tablet (comprimé dispersible) format.
The Teva Santé batches were distributed in 2023, those from Sandoz in February 2024.
Amoxicillin tablets in another format, or in this format but outside of these lots, are not affected.
The bacteria present in the faulty batches was not named by the ANSM, but the authority said taking the medicine poses no threat to human health. The bacteria can separately cause food poisoning.
Both companies responsible for the affected batches have stated they have not received any reports relating to a decreased quality of the medicine since its distribution but that the batches are being recalled as a safety measure.
What do those with these batches need to do?
Pharmacists with remaining stocks of the affected batches are being asked to return them to the wholesalers from which they were purchased.
In theory, patients are not affected by the recall.
Amoxicillin is only available via prescription, and those who were given the medicine should have finished their courses and not have any of the tablets left at home.
Patients are advised to complete all rounds of treatment when prescribed medicine, both in light of the shortage of drugs in France and the increasing resilience of pathogens to antibiotics.
Therefore they should not have any stock of the drug.
As the medicines were distributed in 2023 and early 2024, it is unlikely that pharmacists would have recently prescribed pills from these particular batches.
If taking antibiotics you can double check your prescription, and if concerned, take it to your local pharmacists with the medicine for them to check.
A recall of blood medicine last week affected both patients and pharmacists.
Read more: Thousands of boxes of blood circulation medicine recalled in France
