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It’s worse than we imagined.
For the last five years or so we have been sounding an alarm about generic drugs. That’s because we’ve been hearing from readers and listeners that sometimes their generic medicine has not worked as expected. In other cases they have experienced unpleasant or even dangerous side effects.
For almost 30 years we championed generics as a wonderful way for consumers to save money. We believed that the FDA was protecting consumers from poor quality medications.
Within the last decade, however, there has been a tremendous shift in the source of medications. Both raw ingredients and finished generic drugs are increasingly coming from countries like India and China.
There is an article in the Washington Post (June 17, 2007) by Marc Kaufman titled “FDA Scrutiny Scant in India, China as Drugs Pour into the U.S.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/16/AR2007061601295.html
It reveals that over the last seven years FDA has made 200 inspections of plants in both countries compared to 1222 quality insurance inspections in the U.S. last year. There is no possible way for FDA to inspect all the plants in China and India that are producing pharmaceuticals that land on American drugstore shelves.
The intense competition among generic drug makers and their search for the cheapest raw materials has driven the huge increase of imports. The same motivation drove pet food manufacturers to purchase wheat gluten contaminated with melamine from China. We worry that the FDA cannot guarantee the safety of these inexpensive pharmaceutical products any more than they could protect our pets.
If you have experienced a problem with a generic drug you can add your comment on the home page of this Web site: http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/generic_drug_problems/report_generic_drug_problem.asp
The Ranbaxy generic for Diflucan from India did not work for me.
I think you're greatly overstating risks from generic medications from abroad, unnecessarily scaring people away from taking cheaper but equally effective generic drugs, and ironically implying that brand-name drugs are safer! Numerous US-based pharmaceutical companies get their brand-name drugs' active ingredients from other countries, so there's nothing inherently safer about brand-name drugs nor anything more dangerous about generics.
What's ironic is that as under-regulated as prescription drugs are, so-called "nutritional" and "herbal" supplements are completely unregulated - when you buy something labelled a "supplement," you have NO WAY of knowing what's in it -- whether it really has as much of the ingredients as it claims, the purity of them, whether it has, say, mercury or lead, etc etc. This is all because Big Supplements (yes, akin to Big Pharma) fought tooth and nail against FDA regulation of their products, and got Congress to grant their wishes in DSHEA.
So, yes, at the pharmacy counter, buyer beware -- but in the supplements aisle - buyer REALLY beware.
Strangley, I have gotten nose bleeds, from an 81 mg childrens' ASA, whereas,a 5 gr. Bayer, does not seem to cause that same side effect.
It would be interesting if someone could do a sort of "triage" analysis of the risks of different drugs, ranking them according to how hard they are to make, and how much damage they can cause if they are not properly made. For example, I have been buying dirt cheap generic Nexium from India for about 10% of its US price. I figure Nexium is a glorified antacid, unlikely to kill me, and easy to spot if it isn't working, while some other drugs with more complex and subtle effects I want the real thing.
I have had much success treating Bipolar disorder with Trileptal over the last few years. It has now gone generic, and I have had NOBODY on generic Trileptal manufactured by Glenmark or Sun (both Indian companies) maintained mood stability once they switched. I have no feedback whatsoever yet on the other generic Trileptal manufacturer's products.
Is there a way to get meds from china analyzed?
I’ve seen ads on TV for Caduet. It has two ingredients. One is Amlodipine and the other is Atorvastatin. With my RxDrugCard I can get 30 tablets of Amlodipine for $9 and 30 tablets of Simvastatin for $9. I’ll bet they are charging more than $18 for this new drug! Don’t pressure your doctor into giving you something just because it’s new. Do your homework. Find a drug card like I did at www.rxdrugcard.com. I think that RxDrugCard.com is the best drug card available for prescription discounts.
i take generic zocor (simvastatin) and generic ambien (zolpidem). i now have symptoms of peripheral neuropathy and i've stopped the zocor, will change to name brand ambien (5 mg) for sleep. have to have tests now to find out cause of burning feet, pins and needles in arms and face. what a drag! would appreciate any others' comments.
I too am concerned about these medications. My son has taken Trileptal for six years. When insurance rules forced a switch to generic last year, he has had daily headaches.
Can medication be analyzed here in the US to find out if it is indeed what it claims to be and if any unwanted ingredients are also included?
I keep thinking of the melamine in pet food and milk products. Is there any way to find out if the raw ingredients used in pharmaceutical manufacture have been contaminated with...well, who knows?
Just another scare tactic to keep people from getting cheaper meds from abroad! It's been part of the Republican scheme for years and backed by the Bush administration! My meds from India work fine and people wake up2...most meds are med in India, New Zealand and not here in the U.S. Pfizer has 80 manufacturing plants in the world, and not one here in the U.S.!
I recently bought nexium 40 mg from India. First of all, its a tablet, not a time release capsule as it should be. needless to say, the medication was completely useless. It did not work so I experienced an entire day of gut wrenching reflux symptoms. Nexium is not a glorified antacid, it is a proton inhibitor which in most cases, will last approximately 16 hours. This Indian product had a half life of about 2 minutes. The peak plasma concentration of nexium should be about 1.5 hours. Indeed, not only did it not work, but it was misrepresented as the same exact medicine as the brand. I am a retired Board Certified Physician. I believe that my grievances have some validity.
I have taken a generic type of z -pak, and I swear it caused me to react as if I swallowed pet dander. I only have allergies to animals, and I am wondering if the Indian factory in which is was made had rats, which I am highly allergic to. It may sound ridiculous, but this reaction never happened when I took U.S. marketed Z-pak about 6 years ago. I have only ever gotten hives from contact with a rodent. I have had allergy tests run as well, and have never experienced food or drug allergies. I will avoid these generics if possible, and thank you for your article because I thought I was the only one concerned about these outsourced pharmaceuticals.
I bought S-Fulvin 250 mg (generic Griseofulvin) from OffShoreRx.com for the treatment of ringworms. My sister simply got the original drug from brand name Grifulvin V 500 mg from her doctor in Miami to treat ringworms too, and she said she saw results in 4 days, but still had to take the 500 mg/day dose for 30 days. So, I took 250 mg x2 per day expecting great results at a bargain price, since I lost my job and can't afford a doctor visit yet. For me, it's been over 2 weeks and NO RESULTS AT ALL. Luckily, Capital One refunded my money. Now, I only worry what I've been putting in my body for 2 weeks!!! Glad I found this article.
the generic kelflex called cephalexein made in India and marked 'mfg. aurobino does not work. my husband has a bad infection in his finger and it doesn't work. I have had problems when using that manufacturer also. we get that from kaiser.
Does there exist a list of foreign (India, China) suppliers of generics that are considered to be safe or known to manufacture high quality/safe generics? Or are all of them questionable? Surely some must be known to be above board.
The US medication and pharma industry collude to put high priced drugs in the market.
I have a mom in India that takes Indian medication, and we use some medications from India - fine too.
For example, a Rs.10 for 10 tablets medication for Diabetes works out to 2 cents per pill. This works just fine. Granted, there will be some medicines that may not work too well, but don't just slander the industry.
I guess if you are on some excellent employer paid insurance, go ahead. For the millions that have no health insurance, is there an option?
I just received some generic from GENPHARMA LTD. from India. I took it for 3 days it did not work. had to change back to Zantac.
The simple option is for the FDA to certify these foreign manufacturers to match the same standard's set for US branded manufacturers. Generics save a lot of money. Who will buy aspirin from Bayer (the inventor) at 100% premium?
thank u
great post
love it
My husband broke out in a complete body hive rash after taking a Zpack generic from India...I have read similar stories on the internet today...I'm reporting to the FDA...they must be stopped!!!
My husband broke out in a complete body hive rash after taking a Zpack generic from India...I have read similar stories on the internet today...I'm reporting to the FDA...they must be stopped!!!
I contacted a drug company in Canada to get Plavix for my dad. It is so expensive here and he needs its everyday. I sent a copy of my dad's superscription to Canada and they sent me Medicine from India. It was not the real thing at all. In fact my dad suffered from the medicine.
It was awful. He felt like he was going to have a heart attack. I quickly changed his Plavix back to the one's from the USA and he is doing much better now. The Pharmacist said not to change his Plavix to Canada but I did anyway. It could have been fatal. PLEASE BE CAREFUL out there.
Generic Limictal for seizure control almost killed my daughter. Our pharmacy switched on us, first blaming CVS corporate, then when questioned further blamed our insurance company, which is BS. The drugs coming from India and China are NOT inspected. Remember China already killed our dogs, and they poisoned their own babies with tainted milk, you think they care about our health???? No, only our money, our drugs need to be kept in this country, they want to kill themselves off, go ahead, but never again will my family be given generics.
What a joke this health care system is in, no wonder the good ole USA has become the laughing stock of the world. But as long as the money keeps rolling in to China and India we will keep getting substandard meds. Makes me sick.