Big Pharma’s Little Secret: Drug Cross-Contamination Is Rampant
Machines that make one kind of pill often have traces of others — an issue so serious it can jeopardize Olympic dreams
By Anna Edney
Brady Ellison, a three-time U.S. Olympic medalist in archery, is going for gold in Tokyo, though he was almost disqualified. Pills he takes for a thyroid condition contained traces of a drug banned by anti-doping authorities. “I had absolutely no clue,” says Ellison, 32.
While few have access to Olympics substance testing, many would find themselves in a similar situation if they did. The trillion-dollar prescription-drug industry has a problem it doesn’t like to talk about and doesn’t fully understand. Manufacturers stamp out pills for one condition on the same machines they use to stamp out pills for a different one, and while they’re supposed to clean between production rounds, trace contamination is common and, some argue, inevitable.
Current and former U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, say the extent of the contamination is unclear, because companies largely police themselves, workers get sloppy, and supervisors are lax. More should be done, they say, but how much and at what cost are a matter of…
