Valsartan, sold under the brand name Diovan among others, is a medication used to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, and diabetic kidney disease.

[8] Common side effects include feeling tired, dizziness, high blood potassium, diarrhea, and joint pain.

[14][7] Valsartan (and other ARBs) are an appropriate initial treatment option for most people with high blood pressure and no other coexisting conditions, as are ACE inhibitors, thiazide diuretics and calcium channel blockers.

[15] If patients have coexisting diabetes or kidney disease, ARBs or ACE inhibitors may be considered over other classes of blood pressure medicines.

[7] Clinical trials for valsartan treatment for hypertension versus placebo demonstrate side effects like viral infection (3% vs 2%), fatigue (2% vs 1%) and abdominal pain (2% vs 1%).

Minor side effects that occurred at >1% but were similar to rates from the placebo group include:[7] People treated with ARBs including valsartan or diuretics are susceptible to conditions of developing low renal blood flow such as abnormal narrowing of blood vessels in the kidney, hypertension, renal artery stenosis, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, severe congestive heart failure, or volume depletion whose renal function is in part dependent on the activity of the renin-angiotensin system like efferent arteriolar vasoconstriction done by angiotensin II are at high risk of deterioration of renal function comprising acute kidney failure, oliguria, worsening azotemia or heightened serum creatinine.

[26] So long as the nephron function degradation is progressive or reaches clinically significant levels, withholding or discontinuing valsartan is warranted.

Owing to its relatively short elimination half life attribution, valsartan concentration in plasma does not accumulate in response to repeated dosing.

[47] Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co. [zh] (ZHP) in Linhai, China manufactured the bulk ingredient contaminated by N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a carcinogen.

[48] The active pharmaceutical ingredient was subsequently imported by a number of generic drugmakers, including Novartis, and marketed in Europe and Asia under their subsidiary Sandoz labeling, and in the UK by Dexcel Pharma Ltd and Accord Healthcare.

[54] In August 2018, the FDA published two lengthy, updated lists, classifying hundreds of specific US products containing valsartan into those included versus excluded from the recall.

[55][56] A week later, the FDA cited two more drugmakers, Zhejiang Tianyu Pharmaceuticals of China and Hetero Labs Limited of India, as additional sources of the contaminated valsartan ingredient.

[57][56] In September 2018, the FDA announced that retesting of all valsartan supplies had found a second carcinogenic impurity, N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), in the recalled products made by ZHP in China and marketed in the US under the Torrent Pharmaceuticals (India) brand.

Based on inspections in late 2018, both agencies have suspended the Chinese and Indian manufacturers' certificates of suitability for the supply of valsartan in the EU and the US.