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A tiny pharmacy is identifying problems with common drugs

139 pointsby pujjadover 5 years ago

8 comments

refurbover 5 years ago
I dug into this a bit and while they are doing some testing, I’m not sure they really know what they are doing.<p>When they originally flagged the NDMA issue in Zantac, they published their results. One of the tablets had 32,000 ppm of NDMA. That’s an absurdly high level that should have made them question the result.<p>Turns out they used a different testing procedure for a different set of drugs. The procedure required heating the sample to 80c for like an hour. The FDA came back and said “yeah, that’s not the right test”. Many drugs will decompose with heat and produce a bunch of impurities. Impurities that aren’t produced in the human body.<p>Testing for impurities is actually really hard as your testing procedure can have a big impact on the measurements.<p>Based on the latest FDA guidance, it sounds like Zantac does have higher than allowed NDMA levels, but nothing like what this lab suggests.<p>So I’d say they are offering a useful service, but they aren’t sophisticated enough to make a judgement call on.
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dm319over 5 years ago
This sounds a bit alarmist. So the chief medical officer of the company is also the editor-in-chief of the journal they publish in? And the paper is about the rapid release of tylenol, not about the cancerous effects of ranitidine?<p>Bear in mind this company makes money by testing regular medications and assuring their drug content and safety - they have a financial motivation to find problems in available medications. This is not to say that production standards may not be ideal for medications, but it does mean one should be skeptical of their claim.<p>Alarmism is popular in health. Look at the removal of vaping products, despite studies demonstrating their general safety. As if the risks of smoking aren&#x27;t already known and fairly major.
neonateover 5 years ago
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;KCfQu" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;KCfQu</a><p>Edit: try also <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;outline.com&#x2F;ykCXfg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;outline.com&#x2F;ykCXfg</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20191108165301&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;a-tiny-pharmacy-is-identifying-big-problems-with-common-drugs-including-zantac&#x2F;2019&#x2F;11&#x2F;08&#x2F;6dd009ca-eb76-11e9-9c6d-436a0df4f31d_story.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20191108165301&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washi...</a>
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victor106over 5 years ago
This sounds kinda a like a bug bounty program for pharama. We should have more companies specially the big PBM&#x27;s doing more of this.
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arsover 5 years ago
Alternate sources:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mysanantonio.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;article&#x2F;A-tiny-pharmacy-raises-big-doubts-about-our-drugs-14820025.php" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mysanantonio.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;article&#x2F;A-tiny-pharmacy-ra...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.scientificamerican.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;what-we-know-about-the-possible-carcinogen-found-in-zantac&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.scientificamerican.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;what-we-know-abou...</a>
tvanantwerpover 5 years ago
This was a really good interview with the CEO of this pharmacy where he describes they business model and research process: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;peterattiamd.com&#x2F;davidlight&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;peterattiamd.com&#x2F;davidlight&#x2F;</a>
audiometryover 5 years ago
I wonder if the exit strategy of this company is to be a big enough nuisance to Pharma that one of them buys the company in order to absorb and nullify it.
liveoneggsover 5 years ago
nice ad
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