It’s Official – Abbott Recall
As Diabetic Investor reported earlier in the week Abbott (NYSE:ABT) made it official toady announcing the recall of nearly 400 million test strips used with the Precision Xtra® line of glucose monitors. According to a press release issued by the company;
“Abbott Diabetes Care today announced that it has initiated a recall of 359 lots (approximately 359 million strips) of Precision Xtra(R), Precision Xceed Pro(R), MediSense(R) Optium(TM), Optium(TM), OptiumEZ and ReliOn(R) Ultima Blood Glucose Test Strips in the United States and Puerto Rico.
The test strips are used with Abbott’s Precision Xtra, Precision Xceed Pro, MediSense Optium, Optium and OptiumEZ blood glucose monitoring systems. ReliOn Ultima test strips are used with the ReliOn Ultima blood glucose monitoring system. The blood glucose monitors are not being recalled and customers can continue to use the blood glucose monitors.
The affected test strips may give falsely low blood glucose results, which can lead users to try to raise their blood glucose when it is unnecessary and to fail to treat elevated blood glucose due to a falsely low reading. The problem appears to be related to longer than expected blood fill times. This may be dependent on the age of the strips and if the strips have been stored in (or exposed to) higher temperatures (above 72ËsF and not to exceed 86ËsF) for an extended period of time.”
In the spirit of the holidays Diabetic Investor sees no need to review that this is just another issue facing this troubled unit. Unfortunately for Abbott they have become experienced in dealing with recalls. For the sake of everyone involved let’s hope that Abbott can put this latest issue behind them and move into the New Year with a fresh slate.
