Walmart and Aurobindo sued as litigation mounts over contaminated blood pressure drugs

Litigation is growing over tainted blood pressure medications with a class-action lawsuit now filed in Florida against Walmart and three drug companies that span the supply chain. In addition to the retailer, the lawsuit names Indian drugmaker Aurobindo, U.S. drugmaker ScieGen Pharmaceuticals and distributor Westminster Pharmaceuticals. It was filed in federal court in Florida against the four over the sale of irbesartan because the drug contained the impurity, N nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA). The FDA in October reported that India’s Aurobindo was recalling 22 batches of its irbesartan API because it was found to contain NDEA. Days later, Hauppauge, New York-based ScieGen and its distributor Westminster initiated a nationwide voluntary recall to the consumer level of all lots of unexpired irbesartan tablets because they had been made with the Aurobindo API and then shipped to Walmart.