Surrey woman urges caution after blood pressure medication recall
Published 1:30 pm Friday, February 20, 2026
A Surrey woman is warning people to double-check their medications after Health Canada recalled more than 14,000 bottles of high blood pressure and chest pain medication.
A Health Canada alert noted that two lots of MAR-Amlodipine 5 mg, totalling 14,103 bottles, have been recalled as they might contain the wrong tablets – specifically Midodrine 2.5 mg tablets, which are used to treat low blood pressure.
The tablets have a different appearance; MAR-Amlodipine 5 mg tablets are white to off-white and eight-sided, while Midodrine 2.5 mg tablets are white, round, and marked with ‘M2’ on one side and have a line across the middle on the other side. Health Canada says anyone whose bottle contains any round tablets should not take those tablets but should return the bottle to their pharmacy for a replacement.
A spokesperson for Health Canada said that as of Feb. 11, there had been no reports of adverse reactions related to the recall.
But a Surrey woman suspects she received some of the wrong meds and is advising people to double-check their meds to ensure they are taking what they were prescribed.
Christina Clark was prescribed MAR-Amlodipine 5 mg to manage her high blood pressure.
Clark said she is cautious and takes her blood pressure every morning, and it is normally around 119/80. There was one day when she believed she had taken the wrong pill, and her blood pressure was 156.
She passed out and was rushed to the emergency room. Doctors told her to increase her blood pressure medication.
The doctor had not seen her pills but knew what she had been prescribed, so Clark did as she was told and increased her medication.
“Five days later, I get up to go to the bathroom, and I pass out,” she said. This meant another trip to the hospital.
It was around this time that she had her prescription refilled and her symptoms started to improve.
While there were other stressors in Clark’s life at the time of her emergency room visit that could have led to her blood pressure increasing, she felt the symptoms matched the possibility that she had taken the wrong tablet.
Health Canada noted in the alert that “Substituting amlodipine (5 mg) with midodrine (2.5 mg) can lead to serious side effects such as a dangerous increase in blood pressure, dizziness, fainting and organ damage.”
Clark is not blaming the doctors or pharmacists but has questions about how this could have happened.
Moving forward, Clark said she will always double-check to ensure that she is taking the medication she has been prescribed.
Jennyfer Bungaroo, director of legal affairs at Marcan Pharma, which manufactures the tablets, declined to provide any further information about the recall, including the number of pills per bottle, and referred back to the Health Canada alert.
“As this matter is subject to Health Canada’s ongoing regulatory processes, we are not in a position to provide additional details beyond what has been publicly released,” Bungaroo said. “We are cooperating fully with Health Canada and are addressing this matter in accordance with applicable regulatory and quality requirements.”
About the Author: Anna Burns
I cover breaking news, health care, court, Vancouver Rise FC, Vancouver Goldeneyes and social issues-related topics for the Surrey Now-Leader. anna.burns@surreynowleader.com Follow Anna on Twitter.