Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
#1
Dangerous anti-psychotic drugs may have been deliberately placed in thousands of packets of Nurofen Plus by animal rights activists, it emerged last night.
A safety alert was issued after packs of the popular painkiller were found to contain Seroquel XL, a powerful drug used to treat schizophrenia.
It is thought militant activists carried out the sabotage operation with the intention of damaging Nurofen Plus's makers, Reckitt Benckiser.
The company which produces Nurofen Plus has not ruled out that the powerful anti-psychotic Seroquel XL 50mg could have been put in the packets deliberately
The company may have been targeted because it tests some products on animals, although not Nurofen Plus.
The suspect packets - containing a total of half a million tablets - have been sent to pharmacies across the UK.
The blister strips containing the drugs are believed to have been swapped while in a wholesalers' warehouse.
The apparent sabotage came to light after three tampered packs were discovered in South London, and an urgent investigation is under way to pinpoint whether a group or an activist acting alone was behind the switch.
'It was not discovered until the packets arrived in store. It was not in the manufacturing process or supply chain. It is not a mix-up and is still being investigated.'
The affected packs of Nurofen Plus all contain 32 tablets and carry the following details:
(Batch Number, Expiry Date, Product Licence No)
13JJ 03/2014 00327 / 0082
57JJ 05/2014 00063 / 0376
49JJ 05/2014 00063 / 0376
A Virgo Health spokesman added police were not involved so far but could be in the future.
People who accidentally take Seroquel may experience sleepiness and are advised not to operate any tools or machinery until they know how the tablets have affected them.
A spokesman for Seroquel's makers, AstraZeneca, said those who had mistakenly taken the drug should contact their GP and take the medicine back to the pharmacy where they bought it.
Side effects of the drug include dizziness, headache and sleepiness, which affect more than one in ten users.
The two drugs are packaged differently - the strips containing large capsules of Seroquel XL 50mg tablets have gold and black packaging while the Nurofen Plus tablets are smaller and have silver and black packaging.
Edited report from the Daily Mail
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#2
Saw that on the news last night - scary that someone would/could do that; good job the side effects are not too serious.
Roger
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
#3
I read that Seroquel is given to treat bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia etc.
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#4
I understood from a news item last evening that the information leaflet within the 'contaminated' packs tallied with the drug contained therein.
I wonder if both drugs are tableted in a similar form?
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.