By Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday said that it has asked drug companies producing metformin, a first-line medication for type 2 diabetes, to examine their products for a potential cancer-causing impurity: n-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). The Singaporean Health Sciences Authority last week recalled three types of metformin medication that contained unsafe levels of NDMA, after it tested all 46 types of locally marketed metformin. In September, ranitidine medications for stomach ulcers and heartburn that were contaminated with NDMA were recalled. FDA Medicinal Products Division section chief Hung Kuo-teng (洪國登) said that the three types of metformin recalled in Singapore are not imported to Taiwan, but there are 140 drug permits for metformin medication in Taiwan, of which 110 types are being manufactured. It would continue to test medications for NDMA contamination and announce the results, the agency said.

Source: Taipei Times December 07, 2019 15:56 UTC