Recall of the antibiotic Dicillin from Sandoz

06 February 2023, Updated 07 February 2023

Patients who are treated with Dicillin Sandoz 500 mg capsules are instructed to return the medicine to a pharmacy and have it replaced. It is important not to stop treatment but to have the medicine replaced with another antibiotic. The pharmacies have been informed to dispense an alternative medicine.

The Danish Medicines Agency has been made aware that a small number of patients treated with the antibiotic Dicillin 500 mg from the company Sandoz have been infected with multi-resistant CPO bacteria, and that the bacteria may originate from the medicine.

In the last four months, nine confirmed cases have been found in patients who are not related. The bacterium was discovered in the patients in the months from October 2022 to January 2023, and the suspicion is presently directed at one single batch of Dicillin manufactured in September 2022.

While it is being investigated if one batch or a larger selection is involved, Sandoz, the company marketing the medicine, has recalled all Dicillin packages and put them in quarantine.

What are patients advised to do?

It is important that patients on antibiotic treatment do not stop their treatment but that they continue as instructed. If you are taking a course of Dicillin Sandoz 500 mg you should return the medicine to a pharmacy for a replacement antibiotic.

The pharmacies have been informed about the situation and are ready to replace the medicine. There are other good alternatives, and patients will not have to pay any additional costs. You do not have to see your doctor to get a new prescription.

We will update our website whenever there is new information about the situation. Pharmacies, hospitals, doctors, municipalities and other relevant parties throughout Denmark will be informed directly.