From an award-winning journalist, an explosive narrative investigation of the generic drug boom that reveals fraud and life-threatening dangers on a global scale—The Jungle for pharmaceuticals
Many have hailed the widespread use of generic drugs as one of the most important public-health developments of the twenty-first century. Today, almost 90 percent of our pharmaceutical market is comprised of generics, the majority of which are manufactured overseas. We have been reassured by our doctors, our pharmacists and our regulators that generic drugs are identical to their brand-name counterparts, just less expensive. But is this really true?
Katherine Eban’s Bottle of Lies exposes the deceit behind generic-drug manufacturing—and the attendant risks for global health. Drawing on exclusive accounts from whistleblowers and regulators, as well as thousands of pages of confidential FDA documents, Eban reveals an industry where fraud is rampant, companies routinely falsify data, and executives circumvent almost every principle of safe manufacturing to minimize cost and maximize profit, confident in their ability to fool inspectors. Meanwhile, patients unwittingly consume medicine with unpredictable and dangerous effects.
The story of generic drugs is truly global. It connects middle America to China, India, sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil, and represents the ultimate litmus test of globalization: what are the risks of moving drug manufacturing offshore, and are they worth the savings?
A decade-long investigation with international sweep, high-stakes brinkmanship and big money at its core, Bottle of Lies reveals how the world’s greatest public-health innovation has become one of its most astonishing swindles.
Filed under: General Problems
I knew we alll weren’t crazy..ALLLLL OF US are claiming are meds are no-where near as effective as they use to be,,,,,My husband who fell,broke some ribs,,dOC gave him some oxy,,he ws like,,,they did nothing,,I WISH THERE WAS SOME PLACE WE COULD TAKE THEM TO TEST THEM?????IS THERE ANYWHERE TO HAVE OUR MEDS ACTUALLY CHECKED???MARYW
I would suggest doing what Steve did–complain to the FDA about that specific generic. It should be the FDA’s responsibility to check the potency and effectiveness of every drug they approve.
Do u think we can truth the fda????After what they have done to all u good doctors???What do u think,?can we trust them to mail in a pill for testing??maryw
You don’t mail in a pil for testing. You report to them that the generic is ineffective and they should do their own testing of that company’s product.
I was just over on the fda site,,searching for complaint form,,i will try it,thanks,,maryw
I was given a partial prescription of Rhodes oxycodone when the pharmacy was low on my usual brand. I started out taking the Rhodes, and started having withdrawals, so I had to mix the other 100 tabs with the useless Rhodes. I’m 10 years opioid tolerant.
The same thing happened with Vicodin; they stopped making the brand name, and the only generics which worked were Activis and Watson yellow tabs. Then those disappeared. None of the generics I had access to worked, so they switched me to oxycodone.
I’m scared the decent generics of oxy will disappear also.
I found article,ohh about 1 month back now,,from the doj,,some dea guy bragging that lowering the potency will /has help stop addiction,,soo their messing w/our meds and have been.I also so a pubmed article about cutting our meds w/niacin,,sooo,,,maryw;
Have you read the book, Steve, What are your thoughts? It’s always been a fact that generic ingredients can legally be from 20% lower to 20% higher than brand, and we obviously know they wouldn’t go 20% higher.
I have not read the book, but had first hand situation with Barb and a long acting C-II made by Rhodes Pharma.. First time she had the C-II made by Rhodes and she claimed that they weren’t working… I know what Barb’s opiate tolerance is… got her to take a whole tablet 2-3 hr later – no effect… I got here to break the tablet in half and take both – to eliminate the possibility of too hard compression on the tablet or something that prevented it from dissolving in the stomach acids… 2-3 hr later… no effect – told her to CRUSH a tablet and take it – 2-3 hrs later no effect. I contacted the company that PUSH them to pick up the tablets for analysis.. after a couple of weeks .. I contacted the company again to see what they found … I was told by a company representative that they had no intention of testing the returned tablets and stood by the original analysis of the batch those tablets were in.. end of story… I filed a complaint with the appropriate website with the FDA https://www.fda.gov/safety/report-problem-fda… that was at least 1.5 yrs ago and still waiting on a reply from the FDA. We had them filled at a Winn-Dixie near our FL beach condo and talked to the PIC and she told me that the Rhodes brand was the ONLY BRAND that they were allowed to purchase from their wholesaler. The TEDMED video on my blog post, by the author of the book… IMO… gives a pretty good “Cliff’s notes” of what is in the book
Thanks, Steve. That’s interesting. Definitely something to look into, but as you know, the chains do pick a generic and stick by it. And when I was in practice, I told my patients to always get the same generic simply because of the potential difference between them.