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herbalhippie t1_jcrsydp wrote

I am REALLY leery of generic medications from India after having a bad reaction to a generic some years back.

Read "Bottle of Lies" by Katherine Eban for a real eye-opener. No pun intended.

Edit: Just reading the reviews of this book on Amazon is frightening.

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[deleted] t1_jcrtn8d wrote

[deleted]

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-a-medium-place- t1_jcs8miw wrote

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but over 70% of US drugs (including branded) have active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) made overseas, primarily in India and China. It’s kind of unavoidable. I work in pharma… I really wish our manufacturing was more US-based because I have read the inspection nightmares, but in theory they are regulated to the same standard as US manufacturers so it’s not something I would lose sleep over.

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herbalhippie t1_jcrtv5q wrote

Yeah, I always look now. Especially if my pharmacy hands me a different generic than one I've been taking. And eyedrops, it's going to be an expensive, reputable brand for me.

India is a huge part of the generic market. Maybe most of it, I haven't looked into it lately.

Edit: Just looking today two of the companies mentioned are located in Chennai, which is tropical. Somehow tropical India and medications just doesn't sound like a good mix to me.

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Ariandrin t1_jcsxkaa wrote

Two of my medications, that are both brand name, and I have been taking safely for years, come from a manufacturer that operates in India.

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shewy92 t1_jctxp7o wrote

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/12/722216512/bottle-of-lies-exposes-the-dark-side-of-the-generic-drug-boom

>Other Ranbaxy plants squeaked through regulatory inspections entirely, like the plant that manufactured generic Lipitor, the blockbuster cholesterol drug. Less than a year after that plant passed an inspection in 2012, Ranbaxy admitted that some of the millions of generic Lipitor pills already dispensed in the U.S. were suffused with tiny shards of blue glass.

Yikes.

>The situation was even worse in Africa, where many manufacturers shipped their lowest-quality drugs. Some were completely counterfeit, with independent lab analysis showing no active ingredients whatsoever. Those that had active ingredients often didn't have enough, and doctors would need to prescribe anywhere from double to 10 times the typical dose to achieve an effect, according to Eban.

So they were basically selling placebos to African countries?

>Eventually, Ranbaxy, as a company, was brought to justice. But none of the individuals responsible were prosecuted

Of course they weren't. And I wouldn't call a $200m fee justice when it's a billion dollar company

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scyth21 t1_jcu16xm wrote

Funny enough our main raw material for producing Adderall came from India. Since we were a GMP facility I had to assume everything was kosher. Plus it goes through a gauntlet of tests before being shipped out.

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