{"id":278138,"date":"2026-02-11T05:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278138\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T05:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:09:20","slug":"canada-issues-urgent-recall-for-blood-pressure-medication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278138\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada issues urgent recall for blood pressure medication"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you take medication for high blood pressure, you may want to check if it\u2019s part of an urgent recall in Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Over the weekend, Health Canada issued a recall notice for two lots of MAR-Amlodipine 5 mg tablets, warning Canadians that some bottles may contain the wrong drug.<\/p>\n<p>According to the notice, MAR-Amlodipine is used to treat high blood pressure and chest pain in adults and children six and older.<\/p>\n<p>Marcan Pharmaceuticals Inc., the maker of that drug, found that some bottles of MAR-Amlodipine may contain midodrine 2.5 mg tablets, a medication that\u2019s used to treat low blood pressure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSubstituting 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,\u201d reads the notice.<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada explains that patients with other conditions like pheochromocytoma, glaucoma, or hyperthyroidism, and those taking other medications, could experience different side effects with different levels of severity if they accidentally take midodrine.<\/p>\n<p>The agency adds that some people might not experience any symptoms if their blood pressure is high, and will need to measure it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElevated blood pressure without symptoms can still result in significant harm to a patient,\u201d reads the notice. \u201cChildren taking the wrong medication may face a higher risk of serious side effects and potential harm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What you should do if you have the recalled blood pressure medication<\/p>\n<p>If you think you have the impacted medication, Health Canada advises you to immediately check your pill bottle to make sure it only has MAR-Amlodipine 5 mg tablets.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"blood pressure recall\" title=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"415\" height=\"502\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2241758\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Health_Canada__HC__Public_Advisory___Two_lots_of_MAR_Amlodipine.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2241758\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MAR-Amlodipine 5 mg (CNW Group\/Health Canada (HC))<\/p>\n<p>According to the recall, MAR-Amlodipine 5 mg tablets are white to off-white, flat and eight-sided, with a line across the middle. One side has \u201c210\u201d and \u201c5\u201d printed on it, and the other side is blank.<\/p>\n<p>Midodrine 2.5 mg tablets are white, round, and marked with \u201cM2\u201d on one side and have a line down the middle on the other side.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"blood pressure recall\" title=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"458\" height=\"440\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2241759\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Health_Canada__HC__Public_Advisory___Two_lots_of_MAR_Amlodipine-1.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2241759\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Health Canada says not to take these Midodrine 2.5 mg (CNW Group\/Health Canada (HC))<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf your bottle contains any round tablets, return the bottle to your pharmacy for a replacement,\u201d advises Health Canada. \u201cIf you are unable to get a replacement immediately, continue taking your medication as directed, but do not take the round tablets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you feel dizzy, or have unusually high blood pressure or slow heartbeats, Health Canada says to contact your health-care professional.<\/p>\n<p>If you have chest pain, a sudden headache, or an inability to move or feel a part of your body, or impaired speech, you should seek immediate medical attention.<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada says it is monitoring the company\u2019s recall and investigation and will inform Canadians if any new health risks are identified.<\/p>\n<p>Check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/recalls-rappels.canada.ca\/en\/alert-recall\/two-lots-mar-amlodipine-5-mg-tablets-recalled-some-bottles-may-contain-wrong-drug\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recall notice<\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you take medication for high blood pressure, you may want to check if it\u2019s part of an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[134,524,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-278138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}