Possibly Mislabeled Heart Drug Is Recalled by Maker

About 23,000 possibly mislabeled bottles of a heart drug sold to two unidentified depots of the Veterans Administration were recalled Friday by the manufacturer, which warned that the mistake could have life-or-death consequences.

Watson Laboratories Inc. of Corona said in a statement that some of the bottles in the lot of 40-milligram tablets of furosemide may have been mislabeled as “Verapamil Hydrochloride Tablets 80mg, lot 34401M6.”

The recall followed two reports from the VA involving 10 bottles of the furosemide tablets that were mislabeled. No injuries had been reported, the company said.

‘Could Be Life-Threatening’

“Both medicines are prescribed for serious, but different, heart conditions,” a company statement said. “Use of furosemide instead of verapamil hydrochloride could be life-threatening. Accordingly, Watson has requested that affected federal facilities contact patients who may have received incorrect medication.”

The Watson furosemide in the mislabeled bottles is a round, white tablet that is embossed with the words “Watson 301” on one side and is scored on the other, the company said.

The real 80-milligram verapamil hydrochloride is a round, film-coated, peach-colored tablet embossed “Watson 344” on one side and scored on the other.

The mislabeled bottles were actually part of “Furosemide Tablets USP, 40mg, lot 30106X6,” all of which was consigned to the VA, the company said.

The VA may have distributed the incorrectly labeled furosemide to the uniformed services and other federal facilities, which also were being notified of the recall, the company said.

David Taber, director of regulatory affairs for Watson Laboratories, said in a telephone interview from the company’s office in Chicago, that the bottles were shipped to two VA depots in February.

Depots Not Specified

He did not, however, specify which depots received the shipments, and no VA spokesman could be reached to identify them.

The first discovery of mislabeled bottles occurred in late June, Taber said.

“When the VA examined the total situation . . . they did their own digging around and concluded there was no problem,” he said.

The recall was ordered after another VA pharmacy discovered a problem Wednesday, he said.