Pfizer's Hospira To Call Back Hospital Anesthetics Due To Mislabeling

Pfizer’s Inc PFE Hospira will recall one lot of each of the injectable hospital anesthetics bupivacaine hydrochloride (HCL) and lidocaine HCL following an investigation revealing that a portion of each lot was mislabeled as the other product.
Hospira’s assessment of the potential risk to patients concluded that the use of the impacted product is likely to cause adverse events of moderate to high severity.
If a patient were to receive 1% lidocaine instead of 0.5% bupivacaine, they could be underdosed, potentially leading to subpar pain management and failure of surgical anesthesia, Hospira said.
On the other hand, a patient who receives an affected bupivacaine dose in place of lidocaine could overdose, which could cause seizures, low oxygen and-or elevated carbon dioxide levels in the blood, and more.
Hospira said a bupivacaine overdose could also lead to cardiovascular issues like irregular heartbeat, cardiac arrest, and cardiac flatline.
The products were shipped across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Guam between December 29, 2020, and April 15, 2021.
The bupivacaine lot was due to expire in July 2022, while the lidocaine batch was good until August 2022.
On that front, Pfizer is also building a new $450 million sterile injectables facility in Portage, Michigan, dubbed as its Modular Aseptic Processing (MAP) facility.
Price Action: PFE shares are trading 1.6% higher at $40.62 during the market session on the last check Wednesday.

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