Anti-psychotic drugs have mistakenly been put into thousands of packets of the painkiller Nurofen Plus.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a safety warning following reports that some boxes may contain Seroquel XL 50mg.

Seroquel XL is a prescription-only anti-psychotic drug used to treat disorders including schizophrenia, mania and bipolar depression.

The mix-up is believed to have happened at a wholesaler's and so far three cases have been identified in the south London area.

Reckitt Benckiser , manufacturer of Nurofen Plus, issued a statement saying "serious investigations" are under way to establish how the mix-up occurred, especially as Seroquel XL is manufactured by another drug firm, AstraZeneca.

The batch numbers affected by the mix-up have been released to the public:

Batch Number Expiry Date Product Licence No

13JJ 03/2014 00327 / 0082

57JJ 05/2014 00063 / 0376

49JJ 05/2014 00063 / 0376





Each batch contains between 4,000 and around 7,500 packs, amounting to around half a million tablets. However, not all packs are affected.

The large capsules of Seroquel XL 50mg tablets have gold and black packaging which is different to Nurofen Plus tablets which are smaller and have silver and black packaging.

Ian Holloway, from the MHRA's defective medicines report centre (DMRC), said: "People should check to see if they have any affected packets of Nurofen Plus.

"If you do, return them to the pharmacy where you bought them from. You can also report this to the MHRA's DMRC on 020 3080 6574 ."

People who accidentally take Seroquel may experience sleepiness and are advised not to drive or operate any tools or machinery until they know how the tablets have affected them.

Nurofen Plus contains codeine and ibruprofen and is only available from behind pharmacy counters.

Following the alert, many packs are being checked by pharmacists before they are sold.