The FDA earlier this week imposed a ban on 30 drugs made by the Indian pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy Laboratories. Ranbaxy is one of the largest suppliers of generic medicines to the United States.
This ban follows FDA inspections of two of the company’s plants in India that were found to have unacceptable manufacturing controls, no programs to prevent cross contamination, a lack of sterile processing operations and incomplete records. This ban covers generic versions of popular cholesterol drugs, antibiotics and allergy medicines.
The FDA said it is not recalling any Ranbaxy products now on pharmacy shelves, and the ban will not block entry of Ranbaxy products made at other facilities around the world or affect products made by the company at plants in New Jersey and Florida.
The banned drugs on the FDA list includes generic versions of cholesterol drugs Zocor, known as simvastatin, Pravachol, known as pravastatin, antibiotic ciprofloxican, or Cipro, the epilepsy drug gabapentin, or Neurontin, and a version of the over-the-counter allergy drug loratadine, or Claritin.