Ethex 30mg IR morphine recall

[jersey_emt]

I used to get the Ethex-branded 30mg immediate-release morphine tablets for breakthrough pain before I was switched to Roxicodone. Some of you probably remember a while back the Ethex extended-release morphine tablets were recalled due to some containing more (as much as 2x) morphine than their indicated dosage. Well, it looks like Ethex had similar problems with their immediate-release morphine tablets as well. I received a letter from Walgreens stating:

________________________________________

November 2008

URGENT DRUG RECALL INFORMATION

Dear Walgreens Prescription Customer,

Our recods indicate that you received one or more prescriptions for Morphine Sulfate Immediate-Release (IR) tablets from a Walgreen pharmacy.

The manufacturer of Morphine Sulfate IR tablets, Ethex Corporation, is recalling several lots of this medication because there is the possibility that some tablets may be oversized and may contain more than the appropriate level of active ingredient. Your prescription may have included product from one of these affected lots.

We do not recommend that you discontinue taking Morphine Sulfate IR tablets without speaking to your physician. We ask that you attempt to contact your physician or other health care provider and share this information with them. You may return any remaining Morphine Sulfate tablets to your local Walgreens pharmacy for a refund.

If you have questions about this recall, you may contact the manufacturer at 1-800-748-1772 from Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST of via email at customer-service@ethex.com. You may also visit their web site www.ethex.com. Information is also available at the FDA web site www.fda.gov.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to seeing you at Walgreens so that we can continue to serve all of your healthcare needs.

Sincerely,

Kermit R. Crawford, R.Ph.
Senior Vice President
Pharmacy Services

[bigNasty]

are you gonna return them for a refund? LOL, i think i know the answer to that question

[Narkotikon]

Does that mean a refund for money or more "correct" pills?

I wonder what would happen if someone went in there expecting to have the pills switched out for new pills, and the pharmacy saying "oh, no, we can't do that, we meant money." Then the person could say something like "oh, no, I'll hold on to these. I'd rather have the pills than money." "But sir, what about the danger, you could die!" "Yeah, I'd still rather have the pills than the money, thanks!"

[OxyContinuously]

you know, obviously for the people who have experience and enjoy opiates, this is no big deal...

but think about just how irresponsible it was of Ethex to allow such an oversight to make it onto the shelves...

the opiate naive person probably wouldn't fare so well if he took a pill expecting it to contain 30mg of Morph,, and later to find out to his detriment that there was say 60mg in there...not good and Ethex *really* should be more careful...sure, a lot of "opiate-naive" patients aren't prescribed morph right off the bat, I understand that, but it's still reckless of Ethex to let something like that happen...

and following that train of thought, a patient familiar and tolerant to mophine probably wouldn't have a conniption if he found out his pills were stronger than indicated, but how about a little quality control?

it also gets me thinking that if they admitted something like this, who's to say that it hasn't happened in reverse? Maybe some of their 30mg pills contain more like 25 or so mgs....again,, not fair to the consumer/end user,, and *highly* ridiculous of the company...borders on criminal negligence if you ask me...

[RxQueen]

makes you wonder about that whole argument against heroin by saying that at least w/ pharms, you're sure what you're getting, and how much! i trust the heroin dealers about as much (if not more sometimes) than big pharma and modern corporations these days.

aside from that though.... wooohoooooo! double-strength morphine!

[Voyager]

Gosh...you got an e-mail from the pharmaceutical company as a customer of the opioid painkiller Morphine !
It's so crazy, that wouldn't not be on anybody's mind in my Serbia, lol !

Maybe they have put more Morphine in their pills in order to boost the selling of their product, like, if they put 40 or 50mg of Morphine into a pill which is stated that contains 30mg of Morphine, their pills will turn out to be much more superior and effective than all other brands of Morphine, hehe...makes me just thinking that way...

But anyway, if that's really true, somebody should get severely punished because of that !
I mean, hey, they were playing with human lives !

I also know about one case of one pharmaceutical company which was making one brand of Risperidone.
But instead of Risperidone, they have put Chlorpromazine, like "it's the same stuff, etc.." !
Imagine that !
Risperidone is a modern atypical antipsychotic which also has the antidepressant and psychostabilizing effects, because it has a selective antagonistic properties at dopamine receptors, but also at some serotonine receptors, giving it the ability not to almost have any side effects at normal therapeutic doses and to be much more effective, while Chlorpromazine as an old fashioned weak antipsychotic with only non-selective dopamine antagonist properties, having a lotta side effects in therapeutic doses, etc..

Horrible.
But I'm on the other hand very lucky, because in my Serbia, when the government registeres a new medication and when they decide to import it, the medication has firstly to pass a very strict pharmacological and chemical testings, etc., which last up to 6 months.
The content of the pill is severely tested and scrutinized in detail, it's side effects, contraindications, toxicity, etc, etc.
Our health government doesn't belive to anybody.
They have to get their own proof of everything which is written on the instructions for the patient and for the healthcare professional which is included in the pack together with the pills.

I remember for Concerta, they have registered it in 2006. in 18mg and 36mg doses, and they imported it at the end of 2006., and then started all those testings.
Concerta became available in the middle of 2007.
So it took them more than half a year to finish all the tests on Concerta, after finhally they gave it a green light to hit the pharmacies.

[oldschool?]

I just saw my hook up for the first time in a while yesterday to find out that all of the Prudu Farm (name brand here in canada) ms contin were recalled. As a result the only thing available were generic that no one in town knew how to cook. She though maybe it was a scam to try to switch everyone over to un shootable pills but after reading this maybe ther really was a recal...I'll continue my rant about trying to cook them on a more relevant thread.

[jersey_emt]

Originally Posted by oldschool?

I just saw my hook up for the first time in a while yesterday to find out that all of the Prudu Farm (name brand here in canada) ms contin were recalled. As a result the only thing available were generic that no one in town knew how to cook. She though maybe it was a scam to try to switch everyone over to un shootable pills but after reading this maybe ther really was a recal...I'll continue my rant about trying to cook them on a more relevant thread.

Well, this recall was for immediate-release morphine, 30mg tablets, from Ethex.