The safety of our pharmaceutical supply is of the utmost importance and the failure to control the quality of medications produced can have serious ramifications, including long lasting injuries, side effects and even death.
In recent years,recalls of medications have become more frequent as manufacturers cut corners in an effort to curb costs. In one case, earlier this year, Johnson and Johnson recalled a score of children’s medications, including children’s Tylenol, due to manufacturing problems at a plant in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. And, just last week, the Food and Drug Administration uncovered ongoing problems at that very same Johnson and Johnson plant as reported in this article:
In an inspection report released late on Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration said a recent visit uncovered multiple quality control problems, including a failure to properly handle customer complaints.
Inspectors…found “a failure to thoroughly review any unexplained discrepancy” in batches of products and a lack of proper record keeping, according to the report from an inspection that ran from October 27 to December 9.
Obviously, governmental oversight of pharmaceutical production is an important part of ensuring that medications are produced under safe conditions. Most corporations are rarely inclined to police themselves and in a pinch, will cut corners despite the risk to unsuspecting consumers.
Personal injury attorneys also play an important role in forcing drug companies to produce safe products by ensuring that those injured by the defective products are compensated for their injuries. Product liability lawsuits also serve to deter companies from producing defective products in the future as well.
Ultimately, the goal is to keep consumers safe by ensuring that pharmaceutical produce safe medications. Governmental oversight and personal injury lawsuits are both effective at achieving this goal.
Howard Ankin of Ankin Law (www.ankinlaw.com) handles workers’ compensation and personal injury cases. Mr. Ankin can be reached at (312) 600-0000 and howard@ankinlaw.com.