Turns out the FDA knows exactly where your meds come from. They'd just rather you didn't.
You already know something is off about your Adderall. You've changed drug manufacturers, switched pharmacies, compared notes and still get told it's in your head. ProPublica's investigative team just caught up to what this community has been documenting for years, even suing the FDA to access non-public inspection reports from overseas generic drug factories.
What's in those reports, and why a secretive group inside the FDA decided the public shouldn't see them, is what this 39-minute podcast episode is about.
There's also a searchable database tool linked in the episode (and below) that lets you look up exactly where your specific medication is manufactured along with its inspection reports.
Poor quality generics is not new information to you. But it's now on the record, sourced, and coming from a newsroom that wins Pulitzer Prizes.
Brief background summary: Over 80% of our generic medications are made at drug manufacturing factories in India and China. What the FDA inspection reports documented was alarming, including evidence of quality control failures, unsanitary conditions and in some cases, factories that appeared to be cheating. The FDA was aware. Some of those facilities were allowed to keep shipping drugs to the U.S. anyway.
Especially for the mods and admins: This community's collective experience is exactly the kind of documented, organized patient record that journalists and legislators pay attention to. ProPublica's reporters are named in the episode. Your Congressional representatives Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are mentioned too and they're pushing to force the FDA to actually test generic drugs and publicly name the overseas factories that have been flagged for safety failures.
If there's ever a moment to make noise through the right channels, it's when someone credible and in power is already listening.
🔍 Look up your manufacturer: https://projects.propublica.org/rx-inspector/
📰 Full investigation: https://www.propublica.org/article/fda-drug-loophole-sun-pharma