IN MID-SEPTEMBERthe U.S. Food and Drug Administration received a 19-page document with some startling claims about a popular medicine. The online pharmacy Valisure, which tests prescription drugs before dispensing them, said it had found extremely high levels of a probable human carcinogen in the antacid ranitidine, best known under the brand name Zantac. Millions of people around the world use ranitidine; it's available both with a prescription and over the counter. As for the carcinogen, NDMA, the FDA knew it well: For more than a year the agency had been recalling batches of the blood pressure medication valsartan because they were contaminated with it.
展开▼