The place Was My Generic Prescription Drug Made? - Rx Inspector

Contents

Regularly Requested Questions What Is Rx Inspector?How Does It Work?What Is ProPublica?Which Medication Are Included?What Do the Inspection Outcomes Imply?What if I Discover One thing Regarding?How Did ProPublica Join This Info?How Do I Report Incorrect Info?

Regularly Requested Questions

How Does It Work?

You enter in the name of your generic prescription drug, as well as the company name found on your pill bottle or drug label. We then search through our database for potential matches. If there are multiple matches, you can narrow your search using the markings found on a pill or other filtering options. If you have a National Drug Code on the package, you can use that as well.

When you click on the drug, we will show you any manufacturing facilities we have been able to connect to it. Clicking on a facility will let you see information on where the facility is located, what other drugs it makes and any FDA inspection information.

What Is ProPublica?

ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. As part of our “Rx Roulette” series, we have been investigating the FDA’s oversight of generic drugs. The nation’s health care system has come to rely on generics — which are often cheaper than their brand-name counterparts — to ensure patients have reliable access to affordable medications. Generics now make up about 90% of the prescription drugs dispensed in the U.S.

We’ve found that the agency quietly allowed some substandard foreign factories to continue shipping medication to the United States after flagging violations so severe that the facilities were officially banned from the U.S. market. When the FDA let drugs from those factories in, the agency did not regularly test them to ensure they would not put patients at risk.

When ProPublica hired a lab to test samples of an important generic for organ transplant patients, we found quality concerns that could compromise their effectiveness. We also found that the FDA preemptively blocks out drug names on inspection reports about foreign facilities, invoking a cautious interpretation of a law that requires the government to protect trade secrets and confidential information.

Which Medication Are Included?

Our ongoing reporting has focused on the safety of generic drugs, which represent the vast majority of all prescriptions filled in the United States. Thus, the tool does not include brand-name or over-the-counter drugs. Further, we excluded gases (like oxygen tanks) and intradermal route drugs (many of these were allergy tests for things like feline hair). We included biological drug products, such as insulin. We opted to include authorized generics, which are brand-name drugs that are marketed without the brand-name label, because we thought consumers may not know their “generic” is actually a brand-name drug.

What Do the Inspection Outcomes Imply?

These are the possible FDA compliance outcomes we highlight:

Import alert. That is uncommon and means medication from this facility had been banned from coming into the U.S. Particularly we’re together with alerts referring to FDA manufacturing requirements for drug merchandise. The company generally exempts sure medication from import bans, ostensibly to forestall drug shortages.
Warning letter. This can be a disciplinary instrument the FDA makes use of to put out vital violations of federal necessities. The corporate has a chance to reply and/or present its plans to appropriate the problems. The company may later subject a “close-out letter” to say it has confirmed that points raised in a earlier warning letter had been fastened. However that doesn’t at all times occur.
Unacceptable state of compliance. This implies inspectors discovered severe points on the facility and the company finally really useful official compliance motion. In instances like this, the FDA sometimes pauses the ability’s pending drug approvals. The company classifies this as “official motion indicated.”
Some points discovered, however no additional FDA motion. This is quite common. It means the FDA discovered points however decided the ability can appropriate them voluntarily. In some instances, inspectors might have really useful a distinct (doubtlessly extra severe) classification, however the company declined to pursue additional enforcement on the time. The company classifies this as “voluntary motion indicated.”
Inspector documented points. Inspectors can file notes summarizing deficiencies noticed throughout an inspection utilizing a 483 kind. In some instances, we’re unable to attach a Kind 483 to an FDA inspection designation, however we present that an inspector filed this kind, maybe as a part of an inspection that was not included in the general public inspection dashboard.
Acceptable state. That is widespread and the very best final result for an inspection. This implies the FDA took no compliance motion and ProPublica discovered no points documented by inspectors. That doesn’t at all times imply no points turned up. Typically, inspectors handle considerations with administration on web site that they consider don’t should be documented on a 483. The company classifies this as “no motion indicated.”

There could also be extra communications, together with about points being resolved, that aren’t mirrored in our database as a result of they haven’t been made public.

What if I Discover One thing Regarding?

ProPublica does not provide medical advice. Keep in mind that if you turn up a troubling inspection report, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your drug is compromised. Doctors and pharmacists advise that you not stop taking your medications. Instead, you should talk to your health care provider about any concerns.

There are often different manufacturers of the same generic drug, and which manufacturer you get can depend on the pharmacy where you shop and what it has in stock. Changing the pharmacy where you fill your prescription might mean you can get a generic made by a different manufacturer.

The FDA maintains a database known as the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System that tracks reports about potential drug-quality problems and sudden and unexpected health conditions among consumers. Both health care professionals and consumers can report problems.

Although we cannot offer medical advice, our reporting team wants to hear about what you find. Let us know at [email protected]. Please embrace the identify of the drug and facility in your electronic mail, and hyperlinks to these pages in our app. We might comply with up with future reporting.

How Did ProPublica Join This Info?

The Structured Product Labeling database.
The National Drug Code Directory.
The Electronic Drug Registration and Listing System.
Data from the agency’s inspection dashboard.
A spreadsheet of facility addresses we sued the FDA for, which connected them to drug application numbers.
Form 483 documents we received from a Freedom of Information Act Request.

ProPublica described the app and the methodology used to build it to the FDA, which did not comment. The agency previously told ProPublica that it doesn’t reveal where drugs are made on inspection reports to protect what it deemed confidential commercial information.