Patients ‘in shock’ over contamination

Users of the blood pressure medication Accuretic are reacting with ‘‘total shock’’ and ‘‘anger’’ as they learn it was voluntarily recalled in other countries three months ago.

Pharmac yesterday announced levels of nitrosamine that were ‘‘above the acceptable daily intake’’ had been detected in the medication.

Nitrosamine is believed to increase the risk of cancer in those who take it over a sustained period of time.

There would be supply issues across the country ‘‘while the issue is investigated’’, Pharmac said.

Pharmac said it had been aware of the issue for a ‘‘few months’’, but did not make a statement until yesterday.

However, Accuretic was recalled in March in the United States and the United Kingdom and April in Australia and Canada.

Peter Pogani is one of about 36,000 Kiwis who takes Accuretic. The 66-year-old has been on the medication for the past 20 years.

News of the contamination was a ‘‘total shock to the system’’, he said, exacerbated by news Pharmac had been looking into the issue for months.

Despite the risk of cancer caused by nitrosamine consumption being deemed ‘‘low risk’’ by Pharmac, any risk was too much, Pogani said.

‘‘I’m horrified. I find the attitude of bureaucrats cavalier when they say it’s low risk – they aren’t the ones who have been advised to take it for 20 years,’’ he said.

For Accuretic user Barbara Regan, who is nearly 70, Pharmac’s announcement raised more questions than it gave answers.

‘‘Where, when and how can a contamination like this happen? It seems like we’re only being told half of the truth,’’ she said.

Regan had been put on Accuretic because of changes in Pharmac’s funding policies.

‘‘I’m sick to death of issues with medications that were only pushed for financial reasons in the first place and the fact that the rest of the world knew about the contamination months ago makes me so angry,’’ she said.

When asked why New Zealand was informed of the contamination months after the rest of the world, Pharmac’s director of operations Lisa Williams said it wanted to be able to ‘‘provide assurances to the New Zealand public that there was alternative treatment to switch to, rather than tell them there was a problem, but no solution’’.

Medsafe supported that approach, ‘‘telling us that the risk associated with suddenly halting blood pressure medication exceeds that presented by the contaminant’’.