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Medicine United States

FDA Warns of Infection Risk From 26 Big-Brand Eye Drops (arstechnica.com) 37

Posted by msmash from the watch-out dept.
The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to ditch 26 over-the-counter eye drop products found at big retailers -- including CVS, Rite Aid, and Target -- due to a risk of infection. Consumers should not buy any of the products and should immediately stop using them if they've already purchased them. From a report: The products include Target's branded Up & Up Dry Eye Relief Lubricant Eye Drops and Up & Up Extreme Relief Dry Eye, as well as Lubricant Eye Drops and Lubricant Gel Drops branded by CVS Health and Rite Aid. The warning also includes eye drop products branded as Rugby and Leader (both from Cardinal Health) and Velocity Pharma. A full list can be found here, as can links to report adverse events.

In an advisory posted Friday, the FDA reported that no infections or adverse events have been linked to the products so far. But the agency said it "found insanitary conditions in the manufacturing facility and positive bacterial test results from environmental sampling of critical drug production areas in the facility."
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FDA Warns of Infection Risk From 26 Big-Brand Eye Drops More

FDA Warns of Infection Risk From 26 Big-Brand Eye Drops

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  • The complete list (Score:5, Informative)

    by gtall ( 79522 ) on Monday October 30, 2023 @03:45PM (#63966902)

    The complete list is here: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug... [fda.gov]

    about half-way down the page.

  • Big-Brand? (Score:3)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday October 30, 2023 @03:55PM (#63966934) Homepage Journal

    Bro those are STORE brands

    Unless they are Kirkland they are the exact opposite of big brands.

    To me, who doesn't buy anything this off-brand and stick it in his eye, the interesting question is who's making these products.

    • Kirkland('s) around here is a home decor store, why are you buying Eye Drops at a home store? Do you even know what a name Brand is? BTW target UP&UP is a store brand but it is also a BIG store's brand. CVS pharmacy is also on every corner around here, Rite Aid (also a pharmacy) would be if not for currently going bankrupt.

      Now your question of who manufactures these brands, which since the FDA is actively testing the facility is probably actually within the United States instead on the other side of

    • Many time store brands and brand name products are made in the same facility by the same manufacture and just labeled differently. They may use different production lines to account for different price points and tweaks to ingredients.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jonadab ( 583620 )
      In the case of food, store brands are typically made in the same facility as the big brands, and just given a different label.

      But I have absolutely no idea whether that's also true of non-prescription eyedrops.

  • Big gubbermint (Score:3)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Monday October 30, 2023 @04:14PM (#63966990)
    What? Is this more big gubbermint interference in businesses? Why can't they just leave them alone? What about their freedom?!

    • Re:Big gubbermint (Score:4, Interesting)

      by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Monday October 30, 2023 @05:05PM (#63967094)
      Yup. Clearly, we need to shut down the government to prevent these freedum-hating inspectors from harrasing our good citizens. Maga! Drain-the-swamp! Oops, sorry I failed to type in all caps there. We don’ need no stinkin medical facility inspections. Sue everyone and appeal all the way to the supreme court!

      More seriously, FDA inspections actually can stop when the gov shuts down. Guess it’s good that everyone has a spare eye, eh? If this doesn’t scare the shut-it-down berserkers, nothing will.
      • Sadly, nothing will.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jmccue ( 834797 )
        And sadly the GOP has cut funding for the FDA and other Gov Inspections (ie: food inspections) over the past few decades. No wonder we have been seeing salmonella alerts on food once in a while for years. When I was young (decades ago), these alerts hardly ever happened. But since the cuts began in the early 80s, here we are.

  • Watch a really sad movie and cry? Or maybe slice some onions?

    • The problem isn't with eyedrops, it's a manufacturing problem that happened to affect some batches of eye drops.

    • It's not necessarily about moisture, natural tears have lubricant properties, and sometimes some lubricant properties are missing in older people's tears, or sometimes have pH imbalances.

  • Shit, will impact all brands (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Monday October 30, 2023 @04:59PM (#63967082) Journal

    I have dry-eye problems, so this is concerning. It will probably make remaining stock of non-impacted brands hard to get for at least a few months.

    • Here is a pro tip. Buy some good quality contact lens saline solution, for example, the Bausch and Lomb Biotrue 20oz sells for 16 bucks. Put fill up a small dropper bottle and use that. I have been doing this for years with no ill effects.

      They charge 10 bucks for a one ounce bottle with practically the same stuff if it is labeled as "eye drops".

      Of course this won't help if you need specialized eye drops such as anti-allergy medication. But if it is just straight dry eye you can save a ton of money this way.

      • They charge 10 bucks for a one ounce bottle with practically the same stuff if it is labeled as "eye drops".

        Bausch and Lomb Biotrue has the following ingredients [bausch.co.uk]:

        Polyaminopropyl Biguanide Hydrochloride (20%), Boric Acid, Sodium Borate, Edetate Disodium, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sulfobetaine, Tetronic 1107, Polyquaternium-1 (40%), Sodium Chloride, Purified Water. May also contain Hydrochloric Acid and/or Sodium Hydroxide to adjust pH.

        Looking at the FDA list [fda.gov], I see a lot of carboxymethylcellulose 0.5% or 1.0%, polyvinyl alcohol 0.5% & povidone 0.6% & tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride 0.05%, polyethylene glycol 400 0.4% & Propylene Glycol 0.3%, and a few others.

        There's zero overlap on the important ingredients. Contact lens saline solution is not the same as these lubricant eye drops. If the B&L drops work for you, great. They don't work for everyone.

    • Thera Tears: been using it for years after my eye doc said most others had "extra stuff" that only serves to irritate your eyes and differentiate the brands for intellectual property reasons.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )

        Thanks for the tip! However, I do expect it will be either more expensive or in short supply for a while if the other brands are yanked, because many others are also looking for alternatives.

  • oops, not again! (Score:4, Informative)

    by snowshovelboy ( 242280 ) on Monday October 30, 2023 @05:21PM (#63967142)

    Twice in one year?

    https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-says-india-made-eye-drop-linked-some-infections-blindness-one-death-2023-02-03/

  • but hey we don't need the fda right?! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    i am sure these private companies would have fully investigated, recalled and notified everyone about these unsanitary conditions

    or just wait for the competitors to let you know "our drops wont make you blind like that other brand" therefore you as a consumer are protected, its free market paradise!

  • Lemme guess. They now are backing a proprietary non-saline eye drop that's hideously expensive, mostly untested, and backed by government grants....

    • There are a bunch of eye drops not covered by this alert. Just don't use Visine or Cleareyes. They're vasoconstrictors that make the problem worse later on. Use lubricant eye drops like Systane, Refresh, Blink, or Theratears, or use a gel.

  • Insanitary? Sounds crazy, not dirty.

  • I don't see it.

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