Abbott Diabetes Care Announces Recall of Certain Lots of Precision Xtra®, Precision Xceed Pro®, MediSense® Optium™, Optium™, OptiumEZ and ReliOn® Ultima Blood Glucose Test Strips in the United States and Puerto Rico

Date of Recall

2010-12-23

Recall Details

- ALAMEDA, Calif. December 22, 2010 - Abbott Diabetes Care today announced that it has initiated a recall of 359 lots (approximately 359 million strips) of Precision Xtra®, Precision Xceed Pro®, MediSense® Optium™, Optium™, OptiumEZ and ReliOn® Ultima Blood Glucose Test Strips in the United States and Puerto Rico.

The test strips are used with Abbott's Precision Xtra, Precision Xceed Pro, MediSense Optium, Optium and OptiumEZ blood glucose monitoring systems. ReliOn Ultima test strips are used with the ReliOn Ultima blood glucose monitoring system. The blood glucose monitors are not being recalled and customers can continue to use the blood glucose monitors.

The affected test strips may give falsely low blood glucose results, which can lead users to try to raise their blood glucose when it is unnecessary and to fail to treat elevated blood glucose due to a falsely low reading. The problem appears to be related to longer than expected blood fill times. This may be dependent on the age of the strips and if the strips have been stored in (or exposed to) higher temperatures (above 72°F and not to exceed 86°F) for an extended period of time.

Customers who have test strips from these affected lots should discontinue use of the product. Abbott Diabetes Care will replace affected test strips at no charge. Abbott Diabetes Care initiated this recall following a routine internal quality review that indicated certain lots of Precision Xtra, Precision Xceed Pro, MediSense Optium, Optium, OptiumEZ and ReliOn Ultima blood glucose test strips may experience longer than normal blood fill times which may cause falsely low blood glucose readings.

Customers are advised to contact their health care provider to determine testing options if they do not have any unaffected test strips to use.

However, if consumers must use affected test strips while in the process of obtaining new strips, they should:
1. Check the amount of time it takes for their blood glucose meter to start the "countdown" after they first apply blood to the test strip. They should start timing immediately after blood first makes contact with the test strip. If the meter takes longer than five seconds to start the countdown, that test strip is affected and the result should not be used. Users should check the time for each test strip they use because all of the strips in a package may not be affected to the same degree. If any reading appears lower than they would expect or does not seem to correlate with the way they are feeling, the user should contact their health care provider immediately.

2. If they do not immediately have access to unaffected strips and are unable to test their blood sugar, users need to be aware of symptoms of high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) and low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).

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