The Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that it had approved a new generic version of the widely used blood pressure drug Diovan, or valsartan, which has been in short supply following recalls made because of chemical contamination.

The new version is being made by Alkem Laboratories Limited, based in Mumbai, India.

“The F.D.A. prioritized the review of this drug application to help relieve the recent shortage of this critical medicine as a result of multiple recalls of generic valsartan products from several manufacturers,” the agency said in a statement.

The recalls began in July when the F.D.A. found that some valsartan products contained a potentially cancer-causing chemical, a type of nitrosamine called N-nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA. European regulators had already made the same discovery. The substance can form during manufacturing if the chemical reactions used to make the drug are not carefully controlled and monitored, the F.D.A. said.

Nitrosamines can cause tumors in the liver and other organs in lab animals and are thought to be carcinogenic in humans as well.