The FDA warned 20 drug firms they are illegally selling unapproved drugs for treatment of migraine. The drugs, sold by Actavis, Sandoz, Teva and others, contain ergotamine tartrate, which narrows blood vessels. The companies were told to stop making and distributing products containing the drug.The world's largest maker of generic drugs and 19 other companies that they are illegally selling migraine medicines without federal approval.
The prescription migraine treatments contain a drug called ergotamine tartrate. Ergotamine is derived from a rye fungus called ergot, from which a separate drug, the illegal hallucinogen LSD, also can be synthesized. Ergotamine is a vasoconstricting drug, meaning it narrows the blood vessels when taken.
The Food and Drug Administration said the 20 warning letters were part of an effort to halt the marketing of unapproved and potentially dangerous drugs. The goal is to get the unapproved drugs off the market, agency officials said.
Read full Food and Drug Administration warning letters: www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/wlcfm/recentfiles.cfm
Source WASHINGTON, (AP)
Source WASHINGTON, (AP)