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(a) The Food and Drug Administration will initiate no regulatory action with respect to the continued marketing of coated tablets containing potassium chloride or other potassium salts which supply 100 milligrams or more of potassium per tablet provided all the following conditions are met:
(1) Within 30 days from the date of publication of this statement of policy in the Federal Register:
(i) The labeling of the drug bears the prescription caution statement quoted in section 503(b)(4) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;
(ii) The labeling on or within the package from which the drug is to be dispensed bears adequate information for its use by practitioners in accord with the "full disclosure" labeling requirements of § 201.100 of this chapter, including the following warning statement:
Warning - There have been several reports, published and unpublished, concerning nonspecific small-bowel lesions consisting of stenosis, with or without ulceration, associated with the administration of enteric-coated thiazides with potassium salts. These lesions may occur with enteric-coated potassium tablets alone or when they are used with nonenteric-coated thiazides, or certain other oral diuretics. These small-bowel lesions have caused obstruction, hemorrhage, and perforation. Surgery was frequently required and deaths have occurred. Based on a large survey of physicians and hospitals, both United States and foreign, the incidence of these lesions is low, and a causal relationship in man has not been definitely established. Available information tends to implicate enteric-coated potassium salts, although lesions of this type also occur spontaneously. Therefore, coated potassium-containing formulations should be administered only when indicated, and should be discontinued immediately if abdominal pain, distention, nausea, vomiting, or gastrointestinal bleeding occur. Coated potassium tablets should be used only when adequate dietary supplementation is not practicable.
(Although the warning statement includes references to enteric-coated potassium salt preparations, it applies to any capsule or coated tablet of a potassium salt intended for oral ingestion without prior dilution with an adequate volume of liquid to preclude gastrointestinal injury.)
(iii) Any other labeling or additional advertising for the drug conforms to the labeling described in paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of this section, in accordance with §§ 202.1 and 201.100 of this chapter.
(2) Within 90 days from the date of publication of this statement of policy in the Federal Register, the manufacturer, packer, or distributor of the drug shall submit a new-drug application containing satisfactory information of the kind required by § 314.50 of this chapter, with appropriate labeling as described in this paragraph.
(b) The Food and Drug Administration may initiate regulatory proceedings after 30 days from the date of publication of this section, with respect to the marketing of uncoated tablets containing potassium chloride or other potassium salts which supply 100 milligrams or more of potassium per tablet or with respect to liquid preparations containing potassium chloride or other potassium salts which supply 20 milligrams or more of potassium per milliliter, labeled or intended for human use, unless all the following conditions are met:
(1) The labeling of the drug bears the prescription statement quoted in section 503(b)(4) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; and
(2) The labeling on or within the package from which the drug is to be dispensed bears adequate information for its use by practitioners in accord with the "full disclosure" labeling requirements of § 201.100 of this chapter, including a recommendation that patients be directed to dissolve any such tablets in an appropriate amount of liquid and to dilute any such liquid preparations adequately to assure against gastrointestinal injury associated with the oral ingestion of concentrated potassium salt preparations.
[40 FR 13998, Mar. 27, 1975, as amended at 55 FR 11576, Mar. 29, 1990; 67 FR 4906, Feb. 1, 2002]
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