4 ms·

> Intense public scrutiny on Zantac started in 2019, when an online pharmacy found high levels of a likely carcinogen in the drug and its generics. And the lin

> Intense public scrutiny on Zantac started in 2019, when an online pharmacy found high levels of a likely carcinogen in the drug and its generics. And the linked article says: > Valisure discovered the link of Zantac and its generics to the carcinogen NDMA during its routine testing of every batch of every medication, and first notified the FDA of its initial findings in June of 2019. On September 13th, Valisure filed a detailed petition with the Food and Drug Administration asking the agency to recall all products containing ranitidine. How in the world is it profitable for an online pharmacy to do this? It's great, but honestly who would pay extra to an online pharmacy to do this testing? Would most people even believe an online pharmacy that said that they did such testing? I'd love to know how they survive.

blindriver 4y ago
I've ordered medication from them because they test to make sure that there's no impurities. It's not that much more expensive and I would gladly pay to know there's no extra chemicals in there that could give me cancer.
- radicaldreamer 4y ago
  Wow, I love that they do this. A few online nootropics suppliers do the same for the supplements they provide but I guess "legit" pharmacies just trust whatever they get from their suppliers usually.
  - graphe 4y ago
    Are you sure they actually test them instead of getting a test from china that says it's good?
    - Enginerrrd 4y ago
      Yeah, at least ~5 years ago, even the main one everyone raved about had some pretty shady practices when they alleged to have "tested every batch in house".
- woodwireandfood 4y ago
  Note that they sold their pharmacy business, but claim to be continuing the testing for the new owner: "The company has since sold its pharmacy operation to concentrate only on quality and safety testing. It continues to test products for the pharmacy’s new owner, Medly, along with other business clients looking to certify for their customers that what they’re buying is legitimate." From https://www.consumerreports.org/product-safety/valisure-found-benzene-in-products-fda-inspected-lab-a7872407447/ https://www.consumerreports.org/product-safety/valisure-foun...
  - mfkp 4y ago
    And Medly filed for bankruptcy in December, and sold it's digital assets to Walgreens as of last week (and is now shut down completely). https://digitalhealth.modernhealthcare.com/finance/medly-sells-assets-walgreens-193m https://digitalhealth.modernhealthcare.com/finance/medly-sel...
    - mypalmike 4y ago
      All those mergers, including with my go-to for supplements, Pharmaca, in such a short time. How did it turn into such a dumpster fire so quickly? I feel like there's got to be a story.
- lighttower 4y ago
  every single pharmaceutical has impurities. some grow over time (chemistry does not stop) and those are the ones to worry about.
jacquesm 4y ago
Online pharmacies that specialize in generic drugs are at risk of having their supplies switched or contaminated because they order from manufacturers with reputations a notch below the big pharma brands whose packaging and product are sourced through a chain of custody that makes switching them out for something else a lot harder. This means that they have to do some inbound quality control to ensure that what they believe they are selling really is what they are selling.
- zbjornson 4y ago
  This is not quite right. I don't think any other pharmacy tests what they dispense. It's expensive, difficult, and the FDA doesn't seem to appreciate that their risk management strategy is being second-guessed. They recently issued a long warning letter to Valisure for doing it [0]. Note that ValisureRx (consumer pharmacy that dispensed lot-tested drugs) was sold to Medley Pharmacy, which just folded. Valisure is now just a testing lab. Finally, it's not just a chain of custody thing. Even big generic brands and name-brands source a huge amount of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from China and India. [0] https://www.fda.gov/media/163682/download https://www.fda.gov/media/163682/download
naniwaduni 4y ago
> How in the world is it profitable for an online pharmacy to do this? It's great, but honestly who would pay extra to an online pharmacy to do this testing? I suspect it's not that they go out of their way to do extra testing, it's that they don't necessarily trust suppliers but willing to eat the cost of testing + risk of bad inputs because they still net ahead compared to more reputable but expensive suppliers.
mfkp 4y ago
It looks like it wasn't profitable enough for them, Valisure doesn't seem to run their online pharmacy anymore. As of 2021, it appears they pivoted to running the lab as a service for other companies. I found one online pharmacy that was using Valisure (Medly.com) but it appears to have gone bankrupt, assets acquired by Walgreens and shut down. https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-buys-medly-pharmacy-patient-data-19-million-bankruptcy-sale-2023-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-buys-medly-pharmac...

blindriver 4y ago

I've ordered medication from them because they test to make sure that there's no impurities. It's not that much more expensive and I would gladly pay to know there's no extra chemicals in there that could give me cancer.

radicaldreamer 4y ago
Wow, I love that they do this. A few online nootropics suppliers do the same for the supplements they provide but I guess "legit" pharmacies just trust whatever they get from their suppliers usually.
- graphe 4y ago
  Are you sure they actually test them instead of getting a test from china that says it's good?
  - Enginerrrd 4y ago
    Yeah, at least ~5 years ago, even the main one everyone raved about had some pretty shady practices when they alleged to have "tested every batch in house".
woodwireandfood 4y ago
Note that they sold their pharmacy business, but claim to be continuing the testing for the new owner: "The company has since sold its pharmacy operation to concentrate only on quality and safety testing. It continues to test products for the pharmacy’s new owner, Medly, along with other business clients looking to certify for their customers that what they’re buying is legitimate." From https://www.consumerreports.org/product-safety/valisure-found-benzene-in-products-fda-inspected-lab-a7872407447/ https://www.consumerreports.org/product-safety/valisure-foun...
- mfkp 4y ago
  And Medly filed for bankruptcy in December, and sold it's digital assets to Walgreens as of last week (and is now shut down completely). https://digitalhealth.modernhealthcare.com/finance/medly-sells-assets-walgreens-193m https://digitalhealth.modernhealthcare.com/finance/medly-sel...
  - mypalmike 4y ago
    All those mergers, including with my go-to for supplements, Pharmaca, in such a short time. How did it turn into such a dumpster fire so quickly? I feel like there's got to be a story.
lighttower 4y ago
every single pharmaceutical has impurities. some grow over time (chemistry does not stop) and those are the ones to worry about.

jacquesm 4y ago

Online pharmacies that specialize in generic drugs are at risk of having their supplies switched or contaminated because they order from manufacturers with reputations a notch below the big pharma brands whose packaging and product are sourced through a chain of custody that makes switching them out for something else a lot harder. This means that they have to do some inbound quality control to ensure that what they believe they are selling really is what they are selling.

zbjornson 4y ago
This is not quite right. I don't think any other pharmacy tests what they dispense. It's expensive, difficult, and the FDA doesn't seem to appreciate that their risk management strategy is being second-guessed. They recently issued a long warning letter to Valisure for doing it [0]. Note that ValisureRx (consumer pharmacy that dispensed lot-tested drugs) was sold to Medley Pharmacy, which just folded. Valisure is now just a testing lab. Finally, it's not just a chain of custody thing. Even big generic brands and name-brands source a huge amount of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from China and India. [0] https://www.fda.gov/media/163682/download https://www.fda.gov/media/163682/download

naniwaduni 4y ago

> How in the world is it profitable for an online pharmacy to do this? It's great, but honestly who would pay extra to an online pharmacy to do this testing? I suspect it's not that they go out of their way to do extra testing, it's that they don't necessarily trust suppliers but willing to eat the cost of testing + risk of bad inputs because they still net ahead compared to more reputable but expensive suppliers.

mfkp 4y ago

It looks like it wasn't profitable enough for them, Valisure doesn't seem to run their online pharmacy anymore. As of 2021, it appears they pivoted to running the lab as a service for other companies. I found one online pharmacy that was using Valisure (Medly.com) but it appears to have gone bankrupt, assets acquired by Walgreens and shut down. https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-buys-medly-pharmacy-patient-data-19-million-bankruptcy-sale-2023-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-buys-medly-pharmac...