How To

Check your medicine cabinet: Use this site to find recalled Rx drugs

 

Thanks to the internet, we’ve been able to communicate, work and attend classes during the pandemic. We can also get essentials delivered right to our door.

If you’ve had trouble scheduling a COVID-19 test or would prefer to avoid the clinic completely, you can get an at-home kit online. Tap or click here to see how to order an FDA-approved COVID test on Amazon.

Speaking of health, when’s the last time you went through your medicine cabinet? Drug companies are doing recalls all the time that you might not be aware of. We’ll show you how to start a prescription drug audit to ensure your meds are safe to take.

The class system

A recall usually refers to a voluntary action taken by a company to remove a defective product from the market. This can apply to anything from cars to television sets. Sometimes a recall will be mandated by the government.

Drug companies take part in recalls just like any other business. The FDA has three classes of recall:

  • Class I recalls are the most serious. In these situations, there is a “reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”
  • Class II recalls are when “use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”
  • Class III recalls are “not likely to cause adverse health consequences.”

RELATED: Buying health supplements or weight loss pills online? Read this first

Bad medicine

You can check the status of all your prescription medications by visiting fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts and following a few steps:

  • Type in the brand name or product description in the Search field. For example, you can search for Advil products or the generic ibuprofen name.
  • Click on the Product Type drop-down menu to narrow your search results.
  • You’ll get a list of drugs that match your query. You can export the results to Excel by clicking on the Export Excel button. This will download the file with an Excel extension.
  • If you see your product in the list, click on it to be directed to a page with a summary of the recall and more details behind it. You may also get instructions on how to return a defective product and contact information for the manufacturer.

The FDA notes that the results on this page come from press releases and other public notices. Your product may have a recall but not come up in the search. The Enforcement Reports program contains information on recalls soon after they are classified by the FDA as well as pending recalls.

Always consult your doctor before making any changes regarding your medication. And if you’re looking to get vaccinated against COVID-19, it’s better to wait than take a chance of getting a bad batch off the Dark Web.

What we found

We did a test run on the FDA site to find recent drug recalls. Here are a couple of results:

Related Articles

Back to top button

Adblock Detected

Please Close Adblock Extension