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Marevan medication - Source: ONE News -
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The drug company GlaxoSmithKline has issued a major recall for one of New Zealand's most common medications, Marevan, also known as Warfarin.
The blue Marevan brand of the blood-thinning pill is taken by about 12,000 people in this country.
GlaxoSmithKline says due to a manufacturing problem, a limited number of the blue 3mg tablets could contain more medicine than the labelled amount.
Anyone who has taken a pill from the affected batch may be at increased risk of bruising or bleeding.
The fault was picked up by a New Zealand pharmacist who noticed some of the pills were bigger than others.
The company has advised patients who were dispensed the medication after 23 November 2009 not to stop taking the medication but rather seek urgent medical advice and replacement tablets.
"Patient safety is our first concern and the results of our investigations to date give us confidence that this is an isolated incident," GSK NZ general manager Geoff McDonald says.
"If patients have any concerns about their medication, they
should discuss these with their pharmacist or their health
practitioner."
