Generic manufacturer safety records revealed by new consumer app
Posted: 5 January 2026 | Dominic Tyer (European Pharmaceutical Review) | No comments yet
News organisation ProPublica’s Rx Inspector tool connects FDA information on factory location and regulatory records to individual generic drugs.
A first-of-its-kind database and app has been launched to provide US consumers with a raft of information about their generic drugs by connecting disparate data sources from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
ProPublica’s Rx Inspector database and app aims to show where the generic drugs used in the US come from and reveal the track records of the pharma factories that manufactured them.
Announcing the tool’s launch last month the non-profit news organisation’s Megan Rose and Debbie Cenziper wrote: “Consumers often have no way of knowing if the medications they are taking came from factories that used dirty water, were infested by insects or birds, or were outright banned from shipping drugs to the US, but then granted special exemptions to do so anyway.”
Although generic drugs account for around 90 percent of all prescriptions dispensed in the US, information about their supply chain can be difficult to come by.
ProPublica’s journalists collected information the FDA makes available about generic manufacturers, including the drugs they produce and their factories’ regulatory records, and even sued the regulator for more detail about factory locations.
The organisation’s Rx Inspector app allows consumers to connect their medication to both a manufacturer and the specific factory that made it, as well as any FDA inspection reports and compliance violations that ProPublica could obtain.
In addition to allowing searches by individual drugs, the track records of specific companies can be revealed, while for healthcare professionals and others with wider medical knowledge there are advanced search options.
ProPublica said that it has described both its new Rx Inspector app, as well as the methodology that was used to build it, to the FDA, but that the regulator did not provide any comment in response.
Nevertheless, ProPublica’s Rose and Cenziper said: “This app provides the most detailed look yet at the makers of America’s generic drugs and whether they’ve met manufacturing standards meant to keep us safe.”
