NJ CVS Gives Children Breast Cancer Medicine in Accidental Mix Up

The state has launched an investigation of a prescription mix-up by a NJ CVS Pharmacy in Chatham, N.J. For two months children were mistakenly given pills for the treatment of breast cancer rather than fluoride pills they were prescribed.

Between Dec. 20 and Feb. 20, the NJ CVS pharmacy mixed up 0.5 mg. fluoride tablets with 20 mg. tamoxifen tablets. Both are small, round and white, but the fluoride pills are stamped “SCI” and “1007,” according to drugs.com.

CVS’ own investigation concluded that it “believe 13 prescriptions for 0.5 mg fluoride pills were dispensed with a few Tamoxifen pills mixed in due to a single medication restocking issue at our pharmacy,” Mike DeAngelis, director of public relations for CVS, announced this afternoon. — NJ.COM

The company had feared 50 children had been affected.

“As soon as we learned of this problem, we took immediate action to contact any family in order to ensure, with an abundance of caution, that any prescriptions that could possibly have been affected were examined. Fortunately, most of the families we spoke to informed us that their children did not receive any incorrect pills. We will continue to follow up with families who believe that their children may have received incorrect medication. Thankfully, no negative effects have been reported.” said DeAngelis.

“We are continuing our investigation to understand how this happened and to make sure we institute additional safeguards to prevent it from happening again. We are also cooperating fully with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.”

According the Star Ledger, the The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs has ordered the NJ CVS Pharmacy to provide copies of all communications, complaints and information related to the incident by Wednesday March 7, by 5.p.m.

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