Tainted Walmart, CVS Eyedrops Tied to Unsanitary Indian Factory
Company was at center of recent FDA ban, according to agency
The US Food and Drug Administration has little power to force a drugmaker to recall products such as eyedrops.
Photographer: Mark Metcalfe/Getty ImagesEyedrops pulled from pharmacy shelves around the US last month were made in an unsanitary factory in India where workers went barefoot and made up test results so the products appeared to be safe, according to a US government report.
Retailers including Walmart Inc., CVS Health Corp. and Target Corp. had carried the eyedrops as store brands. They were made by a company in Navi Mumbai called Kilitch Healthcare India Ltd., according to the inspection report seen by Bloomberg News. The US Food and Drug Administration, which produced the report, didn’t name Kilitch when it told consumers on Oct. 27 not to purchase or use eyedrops from several major brands “due to risk of eye infection.”
The warning came after US health authorities in February linked eyedrops made by a different company in India to infections blamed for four deaths and 18 cases of vision loss in the US. A Bloomberg News investigation found the outbreak was the result of a gap in FDA oversight that allows many over-the-counter drugs, including sensitive ones that require sterility, to enter the US market without inspection.