Why prescription drug recalls happen

Pharmaceutical recalls aren’t frequent, but they do happen occasionally. Because of that, some Kentucky residents who take prescription medications may end up experiencing a recall of their own medication someday. But why do these recalls happen?

As WebMD states, prescription drug recalls can occur for several reasons, but they all boil down to protecting the safety of the consumer. For example, the primary reason for recall involves the medication being a health hazard. While many risks are discovered during the trial, there are some risks that aren’t found until after it has been distributed to a wider market. If a medication is released and then found to cause poor side effects that affect a moderate number of people, or if it has severe side effects such as increased risk of heart attack or stroke, it will be recalled.

The Food and Drug Administration reports that other reasons for product recall involve mistakes that could be harmful to the consumer. If a package is contaminated during production, then it will be taken off the shelves. Likewise, if there are manufacturing defects that change the purity or quality of the drug, it will be recalled. Another reason for recall involves poor packaging. Confusing directions that can cause problems with dosing or misleading instructions are examples of packaging mistakes. There are also some cases in which a product is accidentally placed into the wrong package, which will result in recalls to avoid people taking the wrong medication.

These are just a few potential reasons for recall. When a product is taken off the shelves, people can go to the FDA’s web page in order to see the specific reason for that medication’s recall.