Events

Safety Alert for blood glucose monitoring systems

According to Department of Health, this safety alert involved a device in Hong Kong that was produced by Abbott Diabetes Care.

What is this?

Alerts provide important information and recommendations about products. Even though an alert has been issued, it does not necessarily mean a product is considered to be unsafe. Safety Alerts, addressed to health workers and users, may include recalls. They can be written by manufacturers, but also by health officials.

Learn more about the data here
  • Type of Event
    Safety alert
  • Date
    2014-03-03
  • Event Country
    Hong Kong
  • Event Source
    DH
  • Event Source URL
    https://www.mdco.gov.hk/english/safety/recalls/recalls_20140303.html
  • Notes / Alerts
    Hong Kong data is current through September 2018. All of the data comes from the Department of Health (Hong Kong), except for the categories Manufacturer Parent Company and Product Classification.
    The Parent Company and the Product Classification were added by ICIJ.
    The parent company information is based on 2017 public records. The device classification information comes from FDA’s Product Classification by Review Panel, based on matches of data from the U.S. and Hong Kong.
  • Extra notes in the data
    Press release
  • Reason
    Recall of certain brands of abbott diabetes care blood glucose monitoring systems the department of health (dh) today (february 28) drew public attention to the recall by abbott diabetes care of certain brands of its blood glucose monitoring systems which may produce inaccurate glucose results. the dh received the above safety alert from the local supplier, abbott laboratories limited. the manufacturer, abbott diabetes care, has identified through internal testing and investigation that certain brands of their blood glucose monitoring systems, namely freestyle, freestyle flash, freestyle papillon, freestyle mini, freestyle papillon mini, optium mini blood glucose meters, freestyle navigator continuous glucose monitoring system and freestyle blood glucose meter built into the omnipod insulin management system, have the potential to produce erroneously low blood glucose results when used in conjunction with any freestyle test strip. a spokesman for the dh explained that falsely low blood glucose readings may mislead a diabetic patient into inappropriate management of his or her condition, resulting in hyperglycemia. so far, the dh has not received any local report of adverse events arising from use of the affected products. people who are using the specific brands of glucose meters concerned should contact abbott laboratories limited for advice and follow-up," the spokesman added. the company has set up a customer service hotline 5808 4196 to answer related enquiries. ends/friday, february 28, 2014.

Device

blood glucose monitoring systems

Manufacturer

Abbott Diabetes Care
  • Manufacturer Parent Company (2017)
    Abbott Laboratories
  • Manufacturer comment
    “We are in constant communication with regulatory agencies and competent authorities worldwide which allows us to implement global recalls or in-country communication quickly and effectively,” Abbott, which now owns St. Jude Medical told ICIJ in a statement. In addition to sending global notices to physicians worldwide, we also make sure that product advisories are available online and classification of product recalls and product advisories are determined by global regulatory bodies which can impact the timing in any given country. MD companies follow varying regulations in different countries. In come countries software is not regulated so a recall in one country related to software would not be classified as a recall or field action in another. In addition, review cycles within the regulatory process can be different in each country which can impact communication and recall timing.
  • Source
    DH