Generic Medications: The Awful Truth with Katherine Eban (#138)

Knowledge is power. Join Dr. Berkson's interview with KATHERINE EBAN, an investigative journalist, Fortune magazine contributor, Andrew Carnegie fellow, and New York Time’s best-selling author of Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom and expand your knowledge base. Ms. Eban is known and respected for lecturing on pharmaceutical counterfeiting and pharmaceutical integrity, or lack of it. And… now… generic medications. In this illuminating and must-hear show you will learn: What are generic drugs and what are the concerns with them. Where you can go to figure out the deep dive on your own generic meds. How is the FDA letting us down and what are the conflicts of interest? 80% of our generics are made overseas, mostly in India and China, who often have very serious issues with their chemical plants, contaminants and other complications. The U.S. makes almost none of its own antibiotics anymore.  Examples of fraud committed by generic-drug makers at manufacturing plants in India and China include: forging of documents and data to prove that generic drugs are equivalent to brand-name drugs, when they’re not; altering of test parameters so that formulations with higher impurities can be approved; superimposing brand-name test results onto generic results in applications to regulators. Overseas drug companies take extreme measures to evade FDA scrutiny.   At one major U.S. hospital center, transplant surgeons found that their patients suffered organ rejection after taking an immunosuppressant medication made by an Indian generic drug company.  Poor-quality generic drugs are feeding the epidemic of drug resistance around the world. Links: https://www.katherineeban.com/guide  https://www.katherineeban.com/faqs