US FDA data reveals quality control lapses

Data obtained by the Associated Press from the US Food and Drug Administration has revealed a catalogue of quality control failures at pharmaceutical manufacturing sites in Puerto Rico. Sidney Wolfe of the advocacy group Public Citizen, said: "people would be shocked to find this whole variety of contamination." Referring to the news agency's review of four years of lapses, Dr Wolfe added: "the common denominator of all these is there's really poor quality control."

The US agency inspected 13 drug plants in Puerto Rico from 2003 to 2007, half of the US Territory's total, which reportedly has the world's greatest concentration of pharmaceutical facilities. Among the agency's reports, one now-closed factory belonging to Israel-based generic giant Teva had been the subject of complaints alleging metal fragments embedded in tablets. A company spokesperson told the MSNBC news agency that the drugs were not dangerous.

One reason for Puerto Rico's prominence as a drug production center was the presence of tax incentives to shift manufacturing to the Territory. However, there has been a recent trend to shift production to fast-growing markets, such as India and China.