Report: Making Health Care WorkSafeguarding Public Health
Prescription for Danger  How Prescription Drugs Produced by
Compounding Pharmacies are Putting American Lives at Risk
Released by: U.S. PIRG  The fungal meningitis outbreak caused by
contaminated steroid injections that killed 55 people to date
and sickened more than 740 is one of the worst public health
disasters the nation has seen in recent history. The tainted
injections came from a drug manufacturer doing business as a
“compounding pharmacy,” a classification which allowed them to
evade the system of safety rules, inspections, and oversight
that keep our drug supply safe. According to an analysis of
warning letters sent to other compounding pharmacies by the FDA
from 2002 to 2012, there is a long history of similar violations
that have in many cases led to unnecessary illness, injury, and
even death.  The letters clearly show that compounding
pharmacies have been exploiting loopholes in the regulatory
system for at least a decade. This public hea