FDA warns opioids mixed up in packaging (MedPage Today)

By Cole Petrochko, Associate Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: January 09, 2012

The FDA has issued a warning that pills, tablets, or caplets of Percocet and eight other opioid products packaged by Novartis for Endo Pharmaceuticals may have been mixed up, with one drug being packaged as another.

The other products include Opana ER CII, Opana CII, Percodan CII, Oxymorphone hydrochloride CII, Endocet CII, Endodan CII, Morphine sulfate ER CII, and Zydone CIII.

A listing on the FDA website is augumented by a more complete list of strength and a guide to colors, shapes, and markings of the affected products on the Endo website.

The affected products were packaged at the Lincoln, Neb., plant involved in a recall of over-the-counter products manufactured by Novartis, including Excedrin and NoDoz. The error is likely the result of improperly cleared packaging machinery, which may have caused pills from one product to be carried over into containers of another product, according to Edward Cox, MD, director of the FDA’s Office of Antiviral Product, Office of New Drugs, and the Center for Drug Evaluation of Research. The odds of a patient being affected by the drug mix-up are low and no adverse event reports related to incorrect product dosing have been filed, Cox said during a press conference…