Walgreens Boots Alliance is among the drugstore companies and acne medication makers facing lawsuits over the sale of products containing benzoyl peroxide in the wake of a laboratory report that said the ingredient degrades to cancer-causing benzene.
Independent testing laboratory Valisure said in a March 5 petition filed with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration that acne products from brands including Proactiv, Target’s Up & Up and Clinique and a Walgreens acne cream have elevated levels of the carcinogen. The lab wants the FDA to recall the affected treatments and investigate.
Since then, Deerfield-based Walgreens has been named in lawsuits seeking class-action status, including one filed yesterday in federal court in Illinois by Chicago law firm Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips & Grossman on behalf of Chicago resident Olabisi Bodunde. (Read the complaint below.)
That lawsuit alleges that Bodunde and other Walgreens customers were harmed by the company’s failure to detect or prevent benzene in its products because plaintiffs may not have bought the products or would have paid less for them.
Several lawsuits against Walgreens, CVS, Target and over-the-counter drug manufacturers that produce Proactive, Clearasil and Asepxia were filed March 8 by Los Angeles-based law firm Wisner Baum. Those lawsuits, also seeking class-action status, say the companies sold benzoyl peroxide acne products without warning consumers that they contain unsafe levels of benzene.
Walgreens said today that it would not comment on the lawsuits, but the company issued a statement at the time of the Valisure petition saying it was reviewing the petition and that it works “with our suppliers to follow FDA regulations and guidelines for Walgreens-branded products.”
In 2022 the FDA alerted drug manufacturers that it was evaluating the root cause of benzene contamination in certain drugs including hand sanitizers and aerosol drug products that have been recalled because of benzene contamination.
At the time, the FDA reminded drug manufacturers that “they are required to establish scientifically sound and appropriate specifications and test procedures to assure drug components (active and inactive ingredients) and finished drug products conform to appropriate quality specifications.”
This article originally appeared in Crain’s Chicago Business.
Jon Asplund , 2024-03-27 18:58:34
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