Which U.S. medications are manufactured in China?
In the wake of the spread of Coronavirus, many folks are concerned about whether or not their prescription medicines are coming from China. The answer is that over half of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used to make “American drugs” are made in China and India, with more coming from China. The fact is that most finished prescription drugs sold in U.S. pharmacies are manufactured in facilities located all over the world, but very few in China. Many are made in Australia, Canada, India, France, Germany, Japan, Malta, Singapore, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and, yes, right here at home in the United States. The kicker? It can be quite the task to pinpoint exactly where your medication was made because companies are not required to list that information.
In fact, drug companies are only required to list the corporate headquarters on the label, but the actual manufacturing facility and its location are often missing. Moreover, many pharmaceutical companies use contract manufacturers. This means the company distributing the medication is not the one that manufactured it.
Research by PharmacyChecker.com shows that 71% of top brand-name medications sold in U.S. pharmacies are imported, demonstrating that the FDA’s public statements on manufacturing are incorrect. Since 2010, FDA leadership has stated that 40% of finished medications and 80% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to make all finished pharmaceuticals sold in the U.S. are foreign made.
PharmacyChecker.com has researched where some of the most popular drugs in the U.S. are made. In the U.S., many brand-name drugs’ packaging includes where the drug is made. We have found that 70% of popular brand-name drugs sold in U.S. pharmacies are imported.
One way to do the research is to go to the website of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. You can type in a drug in the search box, and then click on the photo of the drug label. See example: Januvia 25 mg. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the drug was made in the UK.
You can also call the drug company and just ask them. Sometimes they will simply tell you and other times they will not.
We’ve found that some countries are more transparent than others. In Canada, the label often does not specify where the drug is made, but it almost always does on packaging in Turkey.
In terms of your safety, wherever the manufacturing location, it is crucial to your health that you take lawfully and properly-manufactured drugs.
The bottom line is that it is not always easy to determine where a product is manufactured. Your pharmacist is an excellent source for information regarding the medication that he/she dispenses, but we also encourage people to take control of their health and do their own research.
