If you’ve received a sample pack of Taytulla birth control pills from your doctor in recent months, beware: the manufacturer put the placebo pills in the wrong place.
Allergan, the manufacturer of Taytulla, announced Tuesday that it was issuing a nationwide recall of one lot of the pills, totaling nearly 170,000 packs, after being notified of a packaging error by a physician.
In the affected packs, the first four pills in the pack—rather than the last four—were inactive, potentially putting women at risk of pregnancy. According to a press release, the packaging error meant that the first four days in the pack contained the maroon placebo capsules. Typically, the packages contain 24 days of pink capsules with oral contraceptive hormones, which are then followed by the maroon placebo capsules.
The manufacturer is concerned that users of their contraceptive may not notice the reversed order, thereby increasing the possibility of an unintended pregnancy.
The sample packs have been in circulation nationwide since August. Those affected are marked lot #5620706 with an expiration date of May 2019. Allergan is voluntarily recalling all the units in the lot.
Allergan said it is notifying customers of the recall by letter and encouraged patients to contact their doctors with any questions. Shares of the company dropped close to 2% on Tuesday following news of the recall.