FDA Says It Can't Visit All Foreign Drug Makers

WASHINGTON — It would take federal regulators 13 years to visit the “3,249 foreign manufacturing plants that make medications for the American market,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded in an Oct. 22 report.

According to the Associated Press, the FDA said it is “nowhere near closing an oversight gap so foreign facilities get the same scrutiny as domestic plants.”

“The report ‘confirms that the system deployed by FDA to police (foreign) facilities and keep Americans safe from poorly manufactured drugs is understaffed, overwhelmed and completely inadequate," Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich. told the AP.