Ranitidine

Ranitidine

Part of: GS Prelims Science  & Tech and GS Mains III–Pharmaceutical  industry 

In News:

• A group of doctors came forward to clear “misconceptions” about Ranitidine, an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) used in drugs to treat gastric acidity.
• Following a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning about the presence of low levels of carcinogens in Ranitidine, there are a lot of misconceptions about its use

From Prelims Point of view:

Ranitidine

• Ranitidine is one of the oldest drugs to be used in acidity and upper intestinal ulcers and has been considered to be safer than similar other drugs like proton pump blockers.
• It is a commonly prescribed medicine for countering acidity and also on the World Health Organisation’s ‘Model List of Essential Medicines’.
• In India, a host of companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Reddy’s, Sun Pharmaceuticals sell over 180 versions of the drug. Some commonly known brands of Ranitidine are Zantac, Aztec, Giran, etc.

N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA)

• N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as probably carcinogenic to humans.
• It is an environmental contaminant found in water and foods.
• It is the same impurity that the US FDA had investigated in blood pressure drugs valsartan and losartan over the last year.