LI doctors advise those taking recalled blood pressure medication to check with pharmacists, physicians

Patients taking a medication used for blood pressure and sleep disorders that has been linked to a cancer-causing chemical should consult with their physicians and pharmacists if they have concerns about the drug, two Long Island health care officials said Friday.

Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, which manufactures prazosin hydrochloride, and drug distributor Amerisource Health Services issued voluntary nationwide recalls earlier this month of more than a half-million bottles of the drug, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

Dr. Hal Skopicki, the chief of cardiology at Stony Brook University Hospital and the co-director of the Stony Brook Heart Institute, said the recall was sparked by the presence of nitrosamine in prazosin capsules. Nitrosamine is found in small amounts in many everyday products, including meat, cheese, beer and shampoo, although long-term exposure to high levels increases the risk of cancer.

The recall was based on an abundance of caution, Skopicki said, in an attempt to protect Americans from yet another thing that adds to the risk of cancer.

“I don’t want to raise an alarm,” Skopicki said. “This chemical is present in a lot of things in our lives.”

Lisa Mulloy, vice president and chief pharmacy officer at Northwell Health, said news of recalls linked to cancer-linked compounds is “scary,” but this month’s recall is not cause for major concern.

“We want to keep folks calm,” she said. “When they hear about something like this, they get upset.”

Mulloy urged people to eschew advice on social media and instead talk to their pharmacists and health care providers about any concerns they might have. Their pharmacists can tell them if their prescriptions were manufactured by Teva and if the lot their capsules came from was on the recall list.

Physicians can write new prescriptions for prazosin, which is a generic drug made by multiple manufacturers, Mulloy said. Teva was the only company that issued the recall.

Physicians prescribe prazosin, which relaxes blood vessels, to lower blood pressure, Skopicki said. It was used widely during the 1980s to treat high blood pressure, although its use as a blood pressure medication has dropped significantly after a 2000 study showed that other drugs are more effective.

Prazosin is also prescribed for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder who suffer from nightmares and disrupted sleep, Skopicki said.