Update on Zantac carcinogen fears: "It's pretty scary"
Australia’s drug regulator has discovered three-quarters of a popular heartburn medication it recently tested contained increased levels of a suspected cancer-causing substance.
“We’re just validating those results and we’ll be publishing that on our website soon,” said Professor Paul Kelly, the Therapeutic Goods Authority’s chief medical advisor to ABC’s 7.30.
The TGA recalled the popular medicine Zantac, also known as ranitidine, on October 4 after regulators around the world found that it had been contaminated with the probable carcinogen NDMA.
Despite the risk being low, the TGA took what it described as a “very precautionary approach” by issuing a recall and conducting their own testing.
“It terms of the level of concern, it’s three parts per million. Very, very small amounts,” Professor Kelly said.
“We’ve now tested 135 different batches of this medicine, and we’re finding about 75 per cent of those are positive above that level of three parts per million.
“If someone were to take a ranitidine tablet for their entire life for 70 years, every day, then the risk of cancer may go up by about one in 100,00, so I think you can see from those figures it’s a very small risk.”