Generic drugs are popular because they’re cheaper than their brand-name counterparts. But are they what they appear to be?
Focusing on the Indian pharmaceutical sector, investigative journalist Katherine Eban says that the generic drug industry is plagued by politics and greed, which endangers the lives of millions of people on a global scale.
While countries such as the US have seemingly strong regulatory bodies like the Food and Drug Administration, globalization has made it difficult for them to examine international plants to verify quality. To make a generic, companies need to find a new recipe for a brand-name drug that takes less time but yields similar results. Those aren’t necessarily the best conditions for safe manufacturing, resulting in impurities and other risks.
Drawing on information from whistleblowers, confidential correspondence, and FDA documents, our Instaread on Bottle of Lies offers a pithy summary of Eban’s investigative report. It’s new today in the app!
