PHARMACIST STEVE

President Reagan’s words back abt 40 yrs ago … seems now to apply to many and many more industries and not just to our government. Our our insurance industry – and not just health – are more than willing to take your money and then use “vague terms” within the policy not to pay a claim.  Our Florida condo got hit by Hurricane Michael (Cat-5) .. only the 3rd-4th time a Cat-5 had come ashore in the USA…  I did not pay for wind or flood insurance because our unit is on the top floor and I put 150 MPH windows which was covered by 120 MPH metal hurricane shutters.  But Michael took part – abt 20%-  of the roof off of the complex –  of course the roof was blown off over the top of our unit.

The ceiling our our condo is a concrete slab and was built in 1984 and no one had bothered to seal the penetrations and conduit runs… so water ran into our unit.. and we had a few inches of water in our unit because the water just kept running on down to the units below us, but all the flooring, all the baseboards, all the drywall from the floor and up 4′.. had to be replaced. Our insurance told us that the water in our unit was INDIRECTLY WIND DRIVEN – NO COVERAGE…  I though OK… the Association was responsible for the roof… but the FL legislatures in 2009 passed a law that no association nor their insurance was responsible for any damage to a owner’s unit cause by failure of the common property – like the roof !

Being a pharmacist, I was always under the impression that the FDA was over the safety & purity of medications in our system. Well my faith in that federal agency has been totally shattered.  I got one of Barb’s long acting pain meds filled in FL and for the first time she got some made by Rhodes Pharma (Purdue pharma company).  When she started talking them she claimed that she was not getting an relief from them – the technical term is lacks efficacy –  She had been taking this particular med for years and this is the first time this had happened…  This med is a “12 hr dose – long acting med – and 2-3 hr after taking a dose – NOTHING… so thinking that it could be a solubility issue … so I instructed her to cut a tablet in HALF and take both halves. Another 2-3 hrs passed and NOTHING…. so I instructed her to CRUSH a tablet and take it… 2-3 hrs later NOTHING..

I filed a complaint/report with FDA MedWatchhttps://www.fda.gov/safety/medwatch-fda-safety-information-and-adverse-event-reporting-program   – of which I did not even receive an acknowledge from filing the complaint… let alone no follow up or any concern that this medication totally lacked efficacy.

I have had other pts tell me that their medications – different opiate – from Rhodes pharma – DID NOT WORK…

I reached out to Rhodes Pharma, figured that they would want to analyze these tablets… at first the person I talked to was a little hesitate to have them analyzed but I asked the question that the Rhodes had no concern that this would suggest that raw opiate material may be being diverted at their manufacturing facility.

Reluctantly he agreed to pick up the tablets…. and having waited a month since they were returned, I reached out to Rhodes pharma to get the results of the analysis.  I had to leave a voice mail for 5-6 days in a row before anyone would return my call.  I asked when I was going to get a copy of the analysis of those tablets and was told – somewhat in a matter of fact tone that they were not going to analyze those tablets and that they were standing behind the analysis reports at the time of being manufactured.

So the fact that Barb took THREE TIMES HER NORMAL DOSE within 6-9 hrs without any noticeable efficacy was of little concern to them.

So not to be deterred, I reached out to  Division of Pharmaceutical Quality Operations III  Office of Regulatory Affairs  U.S. Food and Drug Administration  Office: 313-393-8189 and talk to a representative and this office handles only Michigan & Indiana.  Sent the representative all the information that I had concerning this particular med… got a couple of emails from the representative but now a week or so later … can’t get a voice mail return call nor a response to a email.

Have you ever seen a picture or demonstration of a room that has a large family of roaches residing and when you turn the lights on…. they all scatter back into the hiding places ?  That is the mental picture that I am getting on this particular issue.

I have read stories about pharma manufacturing plants overseas where various mandated documentation involving the production of medications have been proved to be falsified/fabricated and no actual reality as to what was really done.

Is it just an illusion that those working for the Feds and in turn for US… really don’t give a crap about the actual duties of their job ?

I have already advised our PCP of this issue – who had been prescribing this to her for years – and I hope that he will share with the 5 other prescribers in his practice. I would recommend to any pt that is being prescribed Rhodes Pharma products to request a product provided by one manufactured by a different pharma.

Filed under: General Problems