according to a fda drug safety communication, sandoz pharmaceuticals is recalling 10 lots of its generic ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel tablets, which were being sold as introvale after a consumer reported about the product packaging flaw. every threemonth introvale card is supposed to carry seven white placebo tablets in the 13th and final row and peachcolour 84 active tablets in 12 sevendose rows. in those mispackaged cards, mistakenly, instead of the "week 13" row, the white placebo tablets were kept in the "week 9" row of the blister card. according to the fda alert, if the pills are taken in a wrong manner, the threat of unintended pregnancy cannot be excluded. the lot numbers involved in the recall lf00687c,lf00551c, lf00765c, lf00763c, lf00478c, lf01261c lf00479c, lf00552c, lf00688c, and lf00764c were distributed throughout the united states during the span of january 2011 and may 2012. according to a sandoz release, the possibility of the packaging error causing serious undesirable health consequences is remote, and the company is unaware of any such reports of related adverse events. the fda suggests that any patient consuming introvale who finds one of the white placebo pills in any line of the blister pack except the 13th row without delay should contact her health care professional and begin using a nonhormonal form of contraception. undesirable events that may be associated to the use of these pills can be informed to medwatch. medwatch is the adverse event reporting and safety information program of fda. source of information httpwww.aafp.orgonlineenhomepublicationsnewsnewsnowhealthofthepublic2012061…
