Alprazolam recall: What to do if you have generic Xanax in the house

Pharmaceutical company Mylan has announced a voluntary recall of their alprazolam tablets, a generic Xanax medication. In the company’s announcement, posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website, Mylan says the medication could have a “foreign substance” in it that could harm patients if ingested.

Mylan doesn’t specify what this foreign substance is, but the company says there is a remote risk of infection to the patient if the substance is present in the alprazolam tablets. The recall of the tablets only affects a single batch, according to the company. This batch’s description is “Alprazolam Tablets, USP C-IV 0.5 mg” and was sold in bottles of 500 tablets and has an expiration date of September 2020. The batch was sold between July 2019 and August 2019.

Mylan has issued instructions for both consumers and retailers that have stock of the infected batches. If you are a consumer/patient, Mylan is instructing you to contact Stericycle, a company that specializes in disposing of medicines, at 1-888-843-0255. Stericycle will then send you a package that you can mail your tablets back to them in. Retailers and wholesalers should examine their batches and contact Stericycle as well.

Mylan also says any adverse reactions a person has experienced after taking alprazolam should be reported to FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program, which you can do online or call 1- 800-332-1088 to get a paper form.

If you have questions about the medication and/or recall, Mylan says you can call them at 1-800-796-9526 or email them at customer.service@mylan.com.