Tag: drug supply

Increasing Transparency in Drug/Medical Device Manufacturers

The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) has published a report on resiliency in the medical supply chain that calls for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to publicly disclose the location of all manufacturing facilities that supply ingredients and parts for pharmaceuticals and medical devices approved in the US.

The report recommends FDA publicly disclose information on drug sourcing, manufacturing quality and volume, and capacity for medical products approved for sale in the US.
 
“The manufacturer for a pharmaceutical drug should be required to publicly disclose the manufacturing location, in particular the FDA Establishment Identifier (FEI), the city, and the country for the finished dosage form (FDF), active pharmaceutical ingredient (API, major excipients, and major packaging and delivery devices for all pharmaceutical drugs sold in the United States,” said a report summary.
 
The same recommendation also applies to devices; device manufacturers should publicly disclose the manufacturing location in the FEI, the city, and the country involved in the device’s manufacturing and final assembly.
 
The report also recommends FDA make its risk-based site selection model scores publicly available. Wow, not only would that be good for consumers, I’d love to know where my sites fall in on that scoring.

Hurry up and put this recommendation in place!

Transparency is a good thing and it is shown to increase consumer safety. It is a problem that even a fairly knowledgeable industry professional like myself cannot figure out where generics are manufactured without making a few phone calls and shaking down my friend network. And even then, I’m never positive that I understand where my family’s medicine is coming from and the status of the sites involved in manufacturing and distributing the product.

The Cost of Generics

Production of generics has shifted overseas, where it’s harder for the Food and Drug Administration to inspect factories. Major companies have been caught faking and manipulating the data that is supposed to prove that drugs are effective and safe. Probable carcinogens have been discovered in the drug supply. During the pandemic, which caused several countries to ban the export of medical supplies, a new fear has arisen: that faraway factories might one day cut Americans off from their drugs. Dozens of lifesaving medications are made with ingredients no longer manufactured in the United States.

Stockman,Farah “Our Drug Supply Is Sick. How Can We Fix It?” The New York Times, 18 September 2021

Philip Runyan pointed out this article today, and it is worth reading. It has personal connection with me, as well as professional in that my wife takes Levothyroxine. I’m a huge fan of Katherine Eban’s Bottle of Lies, and this opinion piece fits excellently into that strand of reporting. We need more reporters on this beat.

I do not think the quality of drug manufacturers worldwide are rising to the level of the US and Europe. I think onshoring is one of those trends that is going to shake the pharmaceutical world over the next decade. Civica is ahead of the curve, but not by much.

Good shoutout to Redica, one of my favorite tools for regulatory intelligence (but expensive).

Notice that Viatris (Mylan) fails at driving out fear. Layoffs are one of the largest possible sources of fear.

We will eventually see a quality rating system. Whether it looks like the FDA’s current metric initiative remains to be seen.