Peru blacklists all five companies behind the bad cancer drugs we revealed

Back in March, we told you about some early impact from our investigation into bad cancer drugs that had been imported by Peru. We had revealed that the Peruvian government had been forced to destroy more than 100,000 vials of chemo drugs after discovering they had failed quality tests.

In response to our story, Peru’s drug regulator told us it was going to inspect 26 overseas drug factories and check that they hold a certificate, called a GMP, which guarantees drug production meets international standards. None of the five companies we found to have sold bad drugs to Peru – Beta Drugs, United Biotech, Kwality Pharmaceuticals, Vee Excel and Naprod Life Sciences – were GMP-certified.

We also told you that the director of Peru’s drug regulator, Digemid, spoke to our co-reporters at Salud con Lupa and said they expected to complete the certification of more than 180 plants within the year. “From then on, no medication will be allowed to enter the country without GMP certification issued by Digemid,” the director said.

Now we can report that all of the pharmaceutical companies that we investigated failed to obtain a GMP certification. This means that, as of May this year, they can no longer supply medicines to Peru.

Our investigation showed that patients were being denied cancer treatment not just because of a shortage of drugs or a lack of funding, but also because of dodgy drug makers and lax regulation.

In Peru, this placed the safety of generic medicines – which are vital treatments, especially for the most vulnerable patients – firmly on the public agenda. It forced authorities to explain what they would do to close the certification gap, and helped revive the legislative debate around Digemid reform.