[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s drug safety watchdog said Monday that it has banned Daebong LS, a local maker of valsartan, from selling and making the active ingredient meant to treat high blood pressure over a cancer-causing substance in the drug.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has also prohibited 22 Korean pharmaceutical firms from selling 59 products made by Daebong LS that contain valsartan.

The move came as some of the valsartan made by Daebong LS has been confirmed to have an impurity known as N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA).

NDMA is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Daebong LS makes the active ingredient valsartan after importing crude valsartan from China’s Zhuhai Rundu Mintong Pharmaceutical.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)