Zantac® tablets 150 mg [(ranitidine hydrochloride tablets)] – possibility of brown discolouration

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Pte Ltd has issued a Dear Healthcare Professional Letter to alert healthcare professionals of the possibility of brown discolouration present in some Zantac^® (ranitidine hydrochloride) tablets. This discoloration may be on the tablet surface or visible if a tablet is broken. The brown discoloration is due to impurities arising from the degradation of ranitidine, which occurs in the presence of moisture. Healthcare professionals on receipt of brown tablets should return all blister packaged tablets including any samples to GSK. Healthcare professionals should advise their patients not to consume their Zantac^® tablets if they are found to be discoloured and to return them. Please refer to the letter for further details.

Only abstracts of the Dear Healthcare Professional Letters (DHCPL) are provided on this website. Details of these letters can be found in the MOH Alert System, which is accessible via the Health Professionals Portal (HPP), a one-stop portal for all healthcare professionals in Singapore. Dentists, medical doctors and pharmacists may access HPP at https://hpp.moh.gov.sg and follow the procedures below to access the MOH Alert system.

Step 1: Select your profession under ‘For Healthcare Professionals’.

Step 2: Click on ‘Useful links’.

Step 3: Click on ‘MOH Alert’ and log in via Singpass.

Step 4: Click on ‘Drug Alerts’ or ‘Med Device Alerts’ to view the DHCPLs.