Do you know where all the ingredients come from with the medication you are currently taking? How many sell ingredients to our US pharma manufacturing companies? Will the FDA be able to protect consumers? Much of this end up on Internet pharmacies too and China can't keep up with certifying all factories according to the article..perhaps some items should not be outsourced when it comes to the medications we rely on to keep us alive...BD
Because the chemical companies are not required to meet even minimal drug-manufacturing standards, there is little to stop them from exporting unapproved, adulterated or counterfeit ingredients. The substandard formulations made from those ingredients often end up in pharmacies in developing countries and for sale on the Internet, where more Americans are turning for cheap medicine.
China has an estimated 80,000 chemical companies, and the United States Food and Drug Administration does not know how many sell ingredients used in drugs consumed by Americans. Because United States drug regulators require pharmaceutical suppliers to meet high standards, the American supply chain is among the world’s safest. But as China’s chemical suppliers multiply, Congressional investigators are questioning the F.D.A.’s ability to protect consumers.
Of the 37 suspect companies, all but one unnamed by the American authorities, The Times identified eight. Records show that six are uncertified chemical companies, including Hunan Steroid, which marketed its products at the Milan convention. “It is unrealistic for us to certify all factories that make intermediates and regulate them like medicine products,” said Ms. Yan, the agency official. But if companies make active ingredients, a more refined product, then they must be regulated by drug authorities, she said.
Pharmaceutical ingredients can pass through three or four trading companies, none of which check their quality. The ultimate manufacturer may not realize the ingredients came from an uncertified chemical company.
Chemicals Flow Unchecked From China to Drug Market - New York Times
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