An Illinois consumer has filed a class action against Walgreens for allegedly misrepresenting the safety of the high blood pressure medication valsartan.

The Walgreens valsartan class action lawsuit was filed by Illinois resident Harry Shanov. Shanov filed his valsartan class action lawsuit after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled valsartan, because it allegedly contained a carcinogen. Shanov argues that Walgreens falsely represented the drug as safe and effective, though allegedly knowing that the drug had been recalled over safety concerns.

Shanov says that he has been taking valsartan since 2004, and, based on the information he was given about it, believed that it did not come with an “undisclosed increased risk” of health risks. He says that many other consumers agreed to take the drug because they similarly were led to believe that it did not contain a carcinogen.

Shanov argues that if he and many other consumers had been properly informed about the properties of the drug they were given, they would not have purchased it. Shanov seeks damages on behalf of himself and all other similarly affected customers in the state of Illinois. 

According to Shanov, Walgreens represented the drug incorrectly, and the prescription information included with the drug caused customers to think that the drug they were given was valsartan “and only Valsartan, as opposed to Valsartan that contained elevated and unsafe levels of NDMA and NDEA,” the carcinogen alleged to be in the drug.

The Walgreens valsartan class action lawsuit argues that Walgreens had a duty to inform customers that the valsartan the pharmacy sold could be contaminated with valsartan.

Why Was Valsartan Recalled?

Shanov stresses that the FDA recalled valsartan in July 2018, after testing the drug and discovering that NDMA (N-nitrosodimethuylamine) and NDEA (N-nitrosodiethylamine) were possibly present as impurities in the drug.

As the FDA has allegedly deemed both chemicals a probable human carcinogen, the administration has also placed an acceptable consumption limit on the substance. According to Shanov, the FDA states that a daily acceptable consumption limit for NDMA is 96 nanogram per tablet, but the recalled valsartan allegedly contains around 200 times the daily acceptable consumption amount of NDMA per tablet.

Based on this risk to human health, says Shanov, Walgreens had a duty to inform consumers. He notes that this is particularly important in drugs taken for choleric conditions like high blood pressure, “because the exposure occurs and the effects accumulate over the course of a long period of time, compounding the magnitude of harm.” 

Unfortunately, valsartan is not the only blood pressure medication recalled. Healthline explains that losartan and irbesartan are also being recalled. Healthline explains that all three drugs, valsartan, losartan, and irbesartan, are all part of a class of drugs called angiotensin II receptor blockers. Reportedly, they can be used to treat heart failure as well as high blood pressure.

The FDA explains that the alleged contamination of valsartan may have been linked to manufacturing problems, and has taken steps to warn some manufactures about the need for proper manufacturing of the drug.

The Walgreens Contaminated Valsartan Class Action Lawsuit is Harry Shanov v. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Case No. No. 2020-CH-01884, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.