NPR’s Ailsa Chang speaks with Anna Edney, well being care reporter with Bloomberg, about her reporting on how some generic variations of chilly drugs comprise a cancer-causing chemical.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Generic over-the-counter medicines can price considerably lower than their name-brand counterparts. Most customers see generics as discount, the identical drugs with the identical substances for much less cash. However thousands and thousands of Individuals who buy a generic model of extended-release Mucinex may very well be getting a drug that incorporates benzene. That is a chemical that causes most cancers. Benzene is present in retailer manufacturers from CVS, Walmart and different main retailers. Anna Edney experiences on healthcare for Bloomberg Information, and he or she’s been following this story and joins us now. Welcome.
ANNA EDNEY: Thanks for having me.
CHANG: Effectively, thanks for being with us. So, I imply, I feel just about everybody, together with myself, has in some unspecified time in the future purchased a generic drug. So this does increase numerous questions. Are you able to simply first clarify what’s benzene? And the way did a cancer-causing chemical find yourself within the generic model of a very fashionable chilly drugs?
EDNEY: Yeah. Benzene is – it is a potent carcinogen. It is one thing that’s normally – you would possibly discover it in gasoline. It is primarily a byproduct of, you understand, petroleum merchandise. You realize, it is identified to trigger, as you talked about, most cancers, particularly leukemia or lymphoma. What it additionally can be utilized as, which I feel lots of people do not know, is a solvent. Basically, whenever you’re making medication, you will have numerous dry substances which are going collectively. It’s good to kind of get them to come back collectively – solvents that can be utilized. And what I did discover was that there are some retailer manufacturers, as you talked about – they’re shopping for from an organization that makes this generic Mucinex that makes use of an ingredient that has benzene because the solvent. And the Meals and Drug Administration has stated, like, we have to transfer away from this as a result of that might threat…
CHANG: Yeah.
EDNEY: …Leaving benzene within the product for customers.
CHANG: Effectively, how a lot benzene are we speaking about in these instances? Like, Is it sufficient to be harmful? I am assuming sure.
EDNEY: Actually, we simply do not know as a result of the Meals and Drug Administration hasn’t shared that info. I’ve additionally filed Freedom of Info Act requests to get among the outcomes of the testing that they’ve performed however have – to date haven’t gotten any solutions.
CHANG: Wow. And all this time, how would a shopper know that benzene is of their generic-brand drug? Like, is it on the label, written there explicitly? How did you work this out?
EDNEY: Positively it’s – benzene shouldn’t be on the label. You possibly can generally discover this ingredient, the carbomer, on the label, and that may be within the inactive substances. So normally approach up high on the label, there’s the energetic ingredient. However go decrease down. There’s all these phrases you may’t pronounce. Carbomer can be in there.
CHANG: OK, I’ve a very primary query. If Benzene…
EDNEY: Yeah.
CHANG: …Just isn’t a part of the energetic substances and if it does not…
EDNEY: Proper.
CHANG: …Must be within the carbomer that’s utilized in these generic medication, why do not firms simply make generics with out benzene?
EDNEY: There’s a important worth distinction. A carbomer made with benzene is so much cheaper than one made with out.
CHANG: Effectively, it sounds just like the FDA is kind of attempting to crack down on this. They stated that benzene can be phased out of pharmaceutical medication subsequent yr, however then that is been prolonged to 2026 after producers complained. However why has the U.S. allowed use of a identified cancer-causing chemical for the previous many years?
EDNEY: Yeah. I feel, you understand, worldwide tips say Benzene shouldn’t be utilized in drug-making except, you understand, there’s some lifesaving drug that completely cannot be made with out it, which – I do not know that, you understand, we actually have come throughout that. However it’s type of opened this loophole for the Meals and Drug Administration to permit it. The businesses have been in a position to make use of it and type of get away with it below this loophole, and the FDA has not cracked down on that.
CHANG: Anna Edney experiences on well being take care of Bloomberg Information. Thanks a lot on your reporting.
EDNEY: Thanks for having me on.
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content will not be in its remaining type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could fluctuate. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.