FDA: High blood pressure drug recall after discovery of oxycodone

It’s not quite like finding a single curly fry among your regular fries. KVK-Tech, Inc. detected something that did not belong in the blood pressure medications the company was packaging for delivery nationwide: a single 5 mg tablet of oxycodone HCl. Yes, this rogue opioid tablet had somehow found its way into the company’s betaxolol 10 mg tablet production line. As a result, KVK-Tech, Inc. has recalled many of these tablets. A specific lot, namely: lot number 17853A, as stated in a company announcement published by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its website.

Naturally, oxycodone and betaxolol are not interchangeable. No doctor should say: You can take a narcotic or blood pressure medication for this problem. It does not matter. Although a curly fry looks a lot like a regular fry, but with a few added twists, these two drugs are very different and serve very different purposes.

Betaxolol is a type of beta blocker. Beta blockers block the effects of the hormone epinephrine, also known as adrenaline. This in turn can dilate or dilate your blood vessels and slow your heart rate. The widening of your blood vessels can allow your blood pressure to lower.

In contrast, oxycodone is a semi-synthetic narcotic that is typically prescribed for pain relief but is also a widely used drug. It is therefore a controlled substance. In addition to relieving pain, oxycodone can cause sedation, feelings of euphoria, constipation, constriction of your pupils (that is, those in your eyes and the students you teach), as well as respiratory depression. Respiratory depression does not occur when your lungs feel depressed. This is when your breathing rate potentially slows to dangerously low levels. An opioid can also slow your heart rate. So if you find yourself breathing more slowly or thinking, Wow, that blood pressure medicine feels good, you may have taken oxycodone instead.

And unlike a rogue curly, a rogue oxycodone tablet can be difficult to distinguish from a betaxolol tablet because both are white, round, and biconvex. So the problem is that a person can inadvertently take oxycodone and then experience some of the aforementioned effects.

Keep in mind that some people taking a blood pressure medication like betaxolol may already have poorer heart and lung function. Therefore, they could be at even greater risk of problems occurring, such as a respiratory rate that is too low, if they accidentally took a narcotic like oxycodone. Additionally, accidental ingestion of an opioid medication can be particularly perilous for anyone with a history of or at risk for opioid use disorder (OUD). Who knows how many tablets it will take to plunge them into the depths of such mess?

It is unclear whether only one oxycodone pill was introduced onto the production line or whether there were others as well. So far, no consumers have found oxycodone among their betaxolol tablets nor have any adverse events occurred.

It’s also unclear how this malicious tablet got to where it was. Oxycodone tablets do not have small feet. So there must have been an error in the production process.

If you have one of the recalled medications, do not play tablet roulette and risk consuming a malicious narcotic. Instead, return it to where you purchased it for a refund. KVK has also made arrangements for you to return the medication directly to the Newtown, Pennsylvania-based company for reimbursement for the medication and shipping costs. Of course, don’t stop taking blood pressure medications suddenly without talking to your doctor first.

This is another reminder that errors can occur during the manufacturing, packaging and shipping of medications. So, don’t blindly trust the medicines you pick up at a pharmacy or receive through an online order. Keep an eye on the tablets…or capsules or whatever form the medicine takes. Make sure each one matches the description of the medicine you are supposed to take.

Additionally, pay attention to how you feel after taking a tablet. If you experience any unexpected effects, such as euphoria, without avocado toast, tell your pharmacist or doctor. Don’t keep such experiences in a bottle and instead show them what’s in your medicine bottle. After all, while the consequences of dishonest medication can be elation and a sense of goodness in the world, the consequences of dishonest medication can be quite disastrous.