This is about ALCOHOL PREP PADS. It is NOT a recall of Multiple Sclerosis medications. However, persons using injected medications for Multiple Sclerosis and their caregivers must pay attention to this because Triad Group-manufactured alcohol prep pads are used to sterilize injection sites.
A News Alert on the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America website (msassociation.org) caught my eye this morning. The News Alert was posted on January 10, 2011 and updated on January 13, 2011.
The MSAA article, “News Alert: Voluntary Recall of Potentially Contaminated Alcohol Prep Products Used with Injected Medications” reports a voluntary recall of ALL Triad Group’s alcohol prep products which are distributed with injected medications.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (nationalmssociaty.org) issued a Safety Alert on January 8, 2011, titled, “Safety Alert: Certain Alcohol Pads/Swabs Recalled by FDA — anyone taking injectable medication check package to see if they were made by Triad Group”
IMPORTANT
Your injected medication is good. This recall is ONLY for the Triad Group alcohol wipes which are included in the packaging.
WHAT TO DO
Use different alcohol wipes. If you cannot find prepackaged alcohol wipes which are not made by Triad, you can use sterile gauze pads to wipe the injection site with isopropyl alcohol (which you can obtain by the bottle at a pharmacy) instead of using a pre-packaged alcohol prep pad.
LEARN MORE
If you have questions or concerns, you may contact the drug companies which have issued alerts, you may call your doctor or call your pharmacist who will have information about the alcohol prep product recall.
SPECIFIC ALERTS
COPAXONE® Users
1 (800) 887-8100
Teva Neuroscience, Inc., the manufacturer of Copaxone, provides this alert:
http://www.sharedsolutions.com/Information/TakingCOPAXONE/TriadRecall.aspx
From the alert: “patients should not use any of the alcohol prep pads contained in the Copaxone pack and should discard these alcohol prep pads”
BETASERON® Users
1 (800) 788-1467
Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Betaseron®, provides this alert:
http://www.betaseron.com/patients/pdfs/Triad_Press_Release.pdf
From the alert: “Bayer instructs patients using Betaseron to immediately discontinue using the Triad alcohol prep pads included in the Betaseron packaging and dispose of those pads in the trash.”
EXTAVIA® Users
1 (800) NOW-NOVA
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, manufacturer of Extavia, provides this alert:
http://www.extavia.com/assets/EXTAVIA-Triad_Recall.pdf
The Novartis alert states: “Patients using Extavia should immediately discontinue using the Triad alcohol prep pads included in the Extavia packaging and dispose of those pads in the trash. When preparing to take their Extavia injection, patients should prepare the injection site in either of the following ways: By rubbing the area with (i) sterile gauze and 70% isopropyl alcohol, or (ii) alcohol prep pads — from another manufacturer — which are not the subject of a recall. These items are generally available at most retail pharmacies.”
TRIAD GROUP AND FDA ALERTS
The press release from the Triad Group is at:
Triad Group Issues a Voluntary Nationwide Recall of All Lots of Alcohol Prep Pads, Alcohol Swabs, and Alcohol Swabsticks Due to Potential Microbial Contamination
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has posted information about the recall on its website at:
The U.S. FDA writes: “Alcohol prep pads, alcohol swabs, and alcohol swabsticks are used to disinfect prior to an injection. They were distributed nationwide to retail pharmacies and are packaged in individual packets and sold in retail pharmacies in a box of 100 packets. The affected Alcohol Prep Pads, Alcohol Swabs and Alcohol Swabsticks can be identified by either “Triad Group,” listed as the manufacturer, or the products are manufactured for a third party and use the names listed below in their packaging: Cardinal Health, PSS Select, VersaPro, Boca/ Ultilet, Moore Medical, Walgreens, CVS, Conzellin.”