Posted today by the PostScript blog at Community Catalyst:
Posted on: August 4, 2010; 11:53 am
Yesterday, Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) unveiled new legislation that seeks to improve the safety of America’s drug supply. The Drug Safety and Accountability Act of 2010 is an important first step in solving a growing problem. It mandates improvement of industry safety and quality standards for both prescription and over-the-counter drugs, provides increased FDA oversight, and gives the FDA much-needed authority to actively protect the drug supply through mandatory recall of dangerous products, as well as to subpoena documents and witnesses. The bill also improves enforcement through whistleblower protections and civil monetary penalties for industry violations.
In announcing the filing of the bill, Sen. Bennet shared his concerns about the issue and his commitment to ensuring the American drug supply is safe no matter where its drugs are made. “Making sure pharmaceutical drugs meet the highest standards for safety and quality is important to me, not only as a U.S. Senator, but as the father of three little girls as well,” said Sen. Bennet in a press conference organized by the Pew Prescription Project. “For too long, the FDA has lacked the proper authority to adequately safeguard our drug supply and protect Colorado consumers.”
Why now?
Americans are concerned about the drug supply, says a Pew Prescription Project survey released yesterday, and they have reason to be.
Manufacturing of pharmaceuticals has changed dramatically in recent years, with more than 80 percent of the active ingredients in all U.S. prescription drugs now originating overseas, often in countries with weak regulatory and enforcement infrastructures such as China and India. In these counties, where quality standards differ from our own and where responsibility for drug purity is murky at best, it is increasingly difficult for the FDA to ensure the safety and efficacy of a drug when they cannot track the uncertain and complex manufacturing processes.
According to the Pew Prescription Project survey, the confidence Americans have in drugs made in some countries overseas is next to none. While three out of four Americans believe drugs made in the U.S. are contaminate-free, only one in 10 believes the same for drugs made in China or India. What’s more, most believe Congress should do more to legislate in this area and over half of those surveyed favor FDA inspection of overseas drug companies.
The recent recalls of Johnson & Johnson’s children’s Tylenol and other cough & cold medicines were another wake-up call to protect Americans from the risks of unsafe drugs, but they were also the most recent in a long line of issues.
The numbers are telling
- In June, drug manufacturers recalled intravenous bags of certain antibiotics manufactured in India found to be unsterile and at least in one case to contain mold.
- In May, the FDA sent a warning letter to a pharmaceutical company for failing to set quality standards for its outsourcing that allowed them to skirt important safety practices.
- There were more than 1,700 drug recalls in 2009 – four times more than in 2008. Most of the recalls were for problems related to manufacturing quality and testing.
- In 2007 and 2008 a contaminated blood thinner, heparin, made in China entered this country and more than 100 Americans died in that case.
Community Catalyst is collaborating with the Pew Prescription Project to spearhead work on this issue in the best interest of American consumers. The impact of drug safety problems is potentially enormous, given that adults and children alike have increasingly come to rely on pharmaceuticals for the cure and management of a wide variety of common, chronic and serious medical conditions. Indeed, Kaiser reports that the use of prescription medications has risen 39 percent in the last decade in the U.S. while the population grew 9 percent. Today 90 percent of seniors and 58 percent of other adults rely on a prescription medication on a regular basis. Among children, a 2009 survey found that 56 percent had used at least one medication in the previous week, and most of those were over-the-counter products (Pediatrics, August 2009).
With the goal of addressing this problem by strengthening the regulation of the manufacturing process for drugs, Community Catalyst supports Sen. Bennet’s legislation and is working to educate and assemble national and state groups to do the same.
– Jessica Hamilton, Program Associate
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