MoistureLoc finally off Saudi shelves months after ReNu recall

Thursday, 06 July 2006

Despite the worldwide ReNu recall issued by Bausch & Lomb in May, stores in Saudi Arabia are only now getting bottles of ReNu with MoistureLoc off of their shelves. The ReNu recall was issued after the contact lens solution was linked with more than 100 cases worldwide of the fungal eye infection Fusarium keratitis. On June 26, the Arab News reported that stores in Saudi Arabia were still selling bottles of ReNu with MoistureLoc. Although this prompted the Saudi Ministry of Health to send a circular to pharmacies asking them to remove ReNu with MoistureLoc from shelves, the contact lens solution remained on sale throughout the country. Many pharmacies that were questioned by the Arab News said that they did not receive the circular and were unaware of the health risks of ReNu with MoistureLoc. Although Saudi officials had sent letters to Bausch & Lomb several months earlier to inquire about a possible ReNu recall, the company said at the time that the only ReNu with MoistureLoc bottles affected by the Fusarium keratitis outbreak were made in the U.S. Bottles sold in Spain were manufactured in Europe. Soon afterward, however, Bausch & Lomb decided to issue the worldwide ReNu recall. Bausch & Lomb has since mailed letters to ophthalmologists and pharmacies in Saudi Arabia. The letters are meant to inform them about the ReNu recall and to instruct them not to prescribe it for patients. The company has also sent bottles of its ReNu MultiPlus contact lens solution to replace the bottles of MoistureLoc from the ReNu recall. The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are currently investigating Bausch & Lomb’s Greenville, South Carolina plant where ReNu with MoistureLoc was manufactured. The two agencies are seeking to determine whether the source of the Fusarium keratitis outbreak can be traced to any contamination at the plant. So far, at least 122 cases of Fusarium keratitis symptoms have been identified by the CDC. Although nearly all of these cases were among users of ReNu with MoistureLoc, there has been speculation that other multipurpose contact lens solutions could be implicated in the ReNu recall as well.