Just today, Heath Canada announced that 3 companies are voluntarily recalling all lots of quetiapine, the generic form of the widely prescribed antipsychotic medication Seroquel, due to the medication potentially being contaminated with the antibiotic drug clindamycin (which is marketed under various trade names including Dalactin and Daclin, as well as in combination products Duac, BenzaClin, Clindoxyl, and Acanya [combination with benzoyl peroxide] and Ziana [combination with tretinoin]).
Health Canada is reporting that it has not received any reports of adverse reactions being caused by this potential contamination, and that there is only a very small number of patients who are at risk due to being susceptible or hypersensitive to the antibiotics clindamicin or linomycin.
The possibility of contamination was spotted at a pharmaceutic manufacturing factory in China that produces quetiapine for three companies: Cobalt Pharmaceuticals Company, Laboratoires Riva Inc., and Sanis Health Inc.
Hea Canada has said that the products affected include all lots of 25 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, and 300 mg doses of Co Quetiapine (Cobalt Pharmaceuticals Company), Riva Quetiapine (Laboratoires Riva Inc.), and Sanis Quetiapine (Sanis Health Inc.)
The recall, according to Health Canada, represents less than 25 percent of all quetiapine marketed/sold in Canada.