Here’s What Happened When ProPublica Reporters Tried to Find Out Where a Popular Prescription Drug Was Made

ProPublicaCenter-LeftEN 2 min read 100% complete by by Debbie Cenziper and Megan RoseOctober 23, 2025 at 10:55 AM

AI Summary

medium article 2 min

ProPublica reporters attempted to trace the manufacturing origin of a widely used generic drug, atorvastatin, but encountered significant obstacles. Starting with a patient's pill bottle labeled by Quallent, they identified Apotex as the actual manufacturer through an ANDA number and FDA databases. However, the exact factory location remained undisclosed due to FDA restrictions on publishing such information publicly. After filing a Freedom of Information Act request and subsequent legal action, ProPublica still could not obtain the specific manufacturing site details for atorvastatin, highlighting the complexity and opacity in drug supply chain transparency.

Key Topics & Entities

US 50% Express Scripts ×260% Apotex ×370% ProPublica ×280% FDA ×380%

Keywords

drug manufacturing 90% fda inspection reports 80% generic drug 70% freedom of information act request 60% atorvastatin 50% drug quality problems 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.30

Source Transparency

Source

ProPublica

Political Lean

Center-Left (-0.30)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

United States

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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drug manufacturing fda inspection reports generic drug freedom of information act request atorvastatin drug quality problems

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