After analysing over 15,000 packets of the contraceptive pill Estelle-35, manufacturers have found only one - excepting the faulty packet which sparked their recall - with pills in the wrong order.
The nationwide recall was launched after a pharmacist discovered a faulty packet in November while preparing it for a patient.It had a white placebo tablet, an inactive pill, in place of an active yellow tablet.
Users of the tablets were told to visit their doctor if they had any concerns and to return any apparently faulty packets.
Douglas Pharmaceuticals managing director Graeme Douglas told NZPA today a patient, who had noticed a faulty packet, had returned it to the company.
A team searched through 15,000 other packets and found none was faulty, he said.
The company had received about 85 per cent of the affected line of tablets back from wholesalers and hospitals.
"We are very reassured. It certainly alleviates some of the concerns we had. When something like this happens, you just don't know how many times it's been replicated," he said.
The automatic packaging machine had been checked and operating procedures audited by the Health Ministry.
Mr Douglas put the incident down to machine error followed by human error.
"A camera watches and stops the machine if anything is out of sequence.
"We can only assume that one of the operators failed to take off the two affected packets.
"The Ministry of Health audit has strengthened our standard operating procedures to make quite sure (it did not happen again)," he said.
Packets were now checked twice before leaving the factory floor.
