The drug maker says the smell is consistent with a wood preservative used in shipping pallets. The recalled bottles of Lipitor contain 40-milligram tablets.
The latest announcement marks the fourth such recall since August over similar issues. Pfizer says the bottles were supplied by an outside manufacturer, though it did not identify the party. It also says health consequences appear to be minimal.
The New York company made changes in August in a move to fix the problem and said the lot currently being recalled was shipped before those changes were made. Additional recalls may be necessary for other batches of Lipitor in bottles made by the supplier that were shipped before August.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
