US lawmakers question FDA's drug inspection programme in India and China

Three top American lawmakers have questioned the foreign drug inspection programme of the Food and Drug Administration in India and China.

In a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, the lawmakers on Monday wrote that the difference in inspection outcomes appears to be just another example of institutional weaknesses and dysfunction in the FDA's foreign drug inspection programme.

The letter dated June 21 was written by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie, and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith following the analysis of the outcomes of FDA inspections in India and China from January 2014 to April 2024. The results of this analysis were surprising, revealing tremendous variation in inspection outcomes. Some FDA inspectors found compliance issues during all or almost all of their inspections. Other inspectors rarely reported finding a single compliance issue. Two inspectors never