Valeant recalls 205,000 bottles of blood pressure med

Trying hard to fight off a hostile takeover by Canada's Valeant, Botox maker Allergan ($AGN) has sent out press releases every time it stumbles onto something that appears to besmirch its pursuer. New fodder is in this week's FDA Enforcement Report. Valeant ($VRX) is recalling a couple hundred thousand bottles and tubes of products.

According to this week's report, the Canadian drugmaker is recalling nearly 206,000 bottles of blood pressure medication vaseretic because of labeling problems. It also is recalling more than 35,000 tubes of hydrocortisone butyrate cream for not meeting potency standards at the 18-month mark.

Last month, Allergan made a big deal of the fact that Valeant received a warning letter tied to manufacturing of Sculptra Aesthetic, an anti-aging injection. The warning letter was about manufacturing shortcomings at the company's contract manufacturers for the product, a product that Valeant sold off in July.

This is not the only large recall Valeant has dealt with this year. Its Bausch + Lomb unit began recalling 850,000 lots of Muro 128 ointment, as well as 35,000 tubes of an unbranded sodium chloride product sold by Major Pharmaceuticals, after users complained of a "gritty, sandlike feeling" in the eye. After carefully examining its manufacturing, the company deduced that the problem occurred because the products must have frozen when they were shipped during the worst of the winter weather.

Allergan has had manufacturing issues of its own. The company in July received a complete response letter from the FDA, delaying approval of its inhaled migraine treatment over canister production concerns.

- the FDA recall notices are here, here and here