The Fda's New Drug Problem

February 29, 2012

The FDA’s New Drug Problem

Word Count: 1,042

1. Matthew Perrone, Roche Warns of Counterfeit Cancer Drug in the U.S., ASSOCIATED PRESS, February 15, 2012, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FAKE_CANCER_DRUG_SAFETY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

2. Jonathan D. Rockoff and Christopher Weaver, Fake Cancer Drug Found in the U.S., THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, February 15, 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204795304577223472661091252.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn_Health

As companies have moved their manufacturing processes overseas to reduce costs, the risks and need for stricter regulations have grown with it. This growing need for stricter regulations is especially true for the pharmaceutical industry where the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently found out that there is a counterfeit version of the high selling cancer drug Avastin being sold in the U.S.1 This is just one of many growing concerns for pharmaceutical companies as they continue to shift their manufacturing operations offshore in order to reduce costs.2 As an up and coming business person, this topic is important because it deals with administrative law and protecting consumers from drug contamination and counterfeiting. There is a growing need for improvements in foreign drug import inspections as well making sure that medical practices are purchasing from authorized suppliers.3 As a business person in this field, I would want to make sure that my company is purchasing high quality medical drugs from authorized distributors in order to protect the company from potential lawsuits in the future.

Avastin is a cancer fighting drug made by Roche’s Genentech unit that is used to treat many forms of cancer such as colon, lung, kidney, and brain.4 According to an article published by the Associated Press, “Avastin works by choking off the blood supply that feeds tumors. Avastin was the first drug of its kind to be approved by the...