Drug Company Raided For Manufacturing Drugs In "Grossly Unsanitary" Secret Rooms

We hope you have not been using any drugs or vitamins from General Therapeutics Corp., because they’ve been busted for manufacturing the drugs in “grossly unsanitary” conditions, says the FDA.

Officials seized more than $300,000 worth of products, says the Associated Press, including “Vitrin, a multivitamin; NC Solution, an antifungal product; and Pyran-50, a pet de-wormer.”

Here’s the gross part. You probably don’t want to read this if you’ve taken these multivitamins. Just throw them away and move on to the next post. It’ll probably have pictures of kitties in it.

In a 2000 inspection, the firm’s owner said the company stopped making drug products and the FDA found no evidence of such manufacturing. However, in an inspection from Aug. 22 to Sept. 8 of this year, inspectors said they discovered the firm had not stopped making pharmaceuticals.

“Instead, the firm had constructed several rooms hidden behind a false wall, apparently to conceal drug products from FDA,” court documents said.

Inspectors found a container of Vitrin infested with live and dead beetles, as well as dead cockroaches and rodent droppings near equipment, records showed.

They outlined problems with equipment that had not been properly cleaned and sanitized, problems with proper testing and record-keeping related to drug products, and other violations.

“For example, roof leaks have resulted in water damage and water contamination to drug components and food containers,” documents said.

Officials found deteriorating chemicals that were potentially explosive, which led to an order to evacuate the building that was in effect for several days, they said.

Drug company raided in St. Louis [BusinessWeek]

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