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The number of recalls and alerts for defective prescription drugs in Canada has soared over the last nine years, often highlighting problems that could put patients in significant danger, a new, British-led study reports.

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The annual volume of faulty medicines disclosed by Health Canada more than tripled to 143 last year from 42 in 2005, according to the research, just published in the journal BMJ Open. Less than half as many cases came to light in the U.K. over the same period, the team reported.

The most common Canadian defects were related to stability — drugs that degraded before their time, possibly undermining their effectiveness — and contamination by foreign substances or microbes.

“If you inject something that is not sterile, that can be life-threatening,” said Imti Choonara, a clinical pharmacologist at the University of Nottingham and one of the authors. “This is an issue that’s not going to go away … [But] most health professionals are unaware of the issue. I would imagine that most people in Canada are unaware of the issue.”