500 Meds Deemed 'Unapproved' by FDA
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500 Meds Deemed 'Unapproved' by FDA
BY LIZ REED ANCHOR JENNIFER MECKLES You're watching multisource health news analysis from Newsy. The FDA announced 500 prescription medications were never officially approved for distribution. How could this happen? Most of these drugs date back before the FDA began formally regulating prescriptions in the 60s and were then “grandfathered” into the market as safe treatments. Some prescriptions were cold, cough and allergy treatments with inappropriate dosages of antihistamines, time capsules that may be ineffective and labels that make the product seem safe for small children. (Video: KIMT) MSNBC’s medical correspondent Robert Bazell urges consumers to check their cabinets before popping another pill. “If it has a doctor’s name on it you should call the doctor and say, why did you give this to me and is it something I need to have? Now, we’re not talking about antibiotics and other things kids get from a doctor’s prescription, we’re talking about common cough, cold and allergy medicine … Some are labeled for kids under the age of two and the FDA has definitely said that should not be happening.” But HLN’s Robin Meade explains -- the marketing of the unapproved meds -- not doctors -- is to blame. “Many health care professionals unknowingly prescribe unapproved meds because the labels aren’t clear. Well if you’re taking unapproved meds, I don’t know, how are you going to know if it's unapproved or not if the labels aren’t clear, talk to your doctor though about alternatives.” The FDA launched the Unapproved Drugs Initiative in 2006 as a way to identify unsafe drugs on the market. The agency doesn’t think consumers will encounter any major problems with the recall. “There are many FDA-approved prescription products ... so, we expect little or no negative impact on consumers from the removal of these unapproved products.” One factor they might not be considering? Money. KIMT reports some of the pulled prescriptions were generic brands that saved consumers hundreds for basically the same ingredients. Reporter: “A drug that effectively helped gout patients was taken off of the shelves to be replaced with an FDA approved name brand version.” Pharmacist: “The drug is clearly safe, clearly effective. Now, it’s still out there just in a $163, more expensive product.” Still - one NPR blogger wonders just how many people this 500-prescription ban actually affects. “I didn't recognize a single brand name when I scrolled through the full list of affected medicines. And when I plugged the names of 10 or so into the search box at online medicine retailer drugstore.com, none of them came up.” The FDA is giving manufacturers 90 days to cease production and 180 to cease distribution of the unapproved prescriptions. Follow @Newsy_Videos on Twitter. Get more multisource video news analysis from Newsy. Transcript by Newsy.
Blip | March 6, 2011
