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More Trouble for Indian Generic Manufacturer Could Affect American Consumers

Over 80 percent of the prescription medications that Americans now buy from pharmacies are generic rather than brand name. The majority of the ingredients in those pills come from abroad. India and China are the two countries that dominate the supply chain in the generic pharmaceutical marketplace.

Ranbaxy is India’s largest drug manufacturer. The Food and Drug Administration has been looking into potential violations of the rules at Ranbaxy’s Indian facilities. A number of the firm’s manufacturing plants had already been barred from exporting drugs to the U.S. because of fraud, forgery and a failure to follow good manufacturing processes.

Now the FDA is reviewing problems at a Ranbaxy plant in Punjab, which sends ingredients to the company’s U.S. manufacturing facility in New Jersey. If the FDA issues an import alert for the remaining Ranbaxy plants in India, it might have an impact on generic drug availability in the U.S. 

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About the Author
Terry Graedon, PhD, is a medical anthropologist and co-host of The People’s Pharmacy radio show, co-author of The People’s Pharmacy syndicated newspaper columns and numerous books, and co-founder of The People’s Pharmacy website. Terry taught in the Duke University School of Nursing and was an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. She is a Fellow of the Society of Applied Anthropology. Terry is one of the country's leading authorities on the science behind folk remedies..
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