Taking medication can be dangerous for many reasons, but no one ever expects their pills to come with fragments of glass in them. Now Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. is performing a massive recall on their generic for Lipitor ( a cholesterol fighting drug) because their pills actually do contain glass. The generic drug comes from India’s largest drugmaker, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., of which Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a subsidiary.

Now Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. is under watch by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration due to some serious oversights on Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s part. According to the FDA, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. has even lied about test results on their drugs (over two dozen of them.) Now the drug company is recalling its 10-, 20- and 40-milligram doses of tablets of atorvastatin calcium. Their 80-milligram pills were not affected in this glass scandal.

In accordance to the FDA’s standards, Ranbaxy must improve the quality of their product. Last November (right before the patent on Lipitor expired) the FDA decided that Ranbaxy would fill its shoes. This was huge news for Ranbaxy, as Lipitor brought in $8 billion dollars in sales in the United States.

The issues between Ranbaxy and the FDA go back to 2006, after Ranbaxy’s manufacturing processes did not meet FDA standards. After an investigation by the FDA, it was discovered that Ranbaxy did not properly test the shelf life of their products, nor their safety. Ranbaxy them went on to lie about all of that. Even the U.S. Department of Justice got on Ranbaxy, forcing them to hand over their internal documents.

– Techyville