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# Fewer Inspections Can Cause Manufacturing Errors: Professors
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fewer-inspections-can-cause-manufacturing-errors-professors/
- Published: 2021-06-23T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T17:04:31.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5149605

A column posted online at *The Conversation* by a physician and a pharmacist at the University of Connecticut says the likelihood of drug manufacturing errors that slip through the cracks has increased as a result of decreased FDA facility inspections. “Over the past few years, tens of millions of doses of prescription and over-the-counter drugs have failed FDA quality expectations,” the professors [write](https://theconversation.com/the-fdas-weak-drug-manufacturing-oversight-is-a-potentially-deadly-problem-162898?ref=fdaweb.com). “This includes the ongoing 2018 recall of thousands of batches of popular blood pressure, diabetes, and acid reflux medications containing the probable carcinogen NDMA.”

The professors say they are concerned about the current level of manufacturing oversight in the U.S. and overseas. They say FDA “needs to strike a balance between quickly getting lifesaving drugs out to market and rigorously ensuring their safety.”

The article traces the history of domestic and foreign drug manufacturing inspections and says the gap between foreign and domestic inspections has widened throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The effects of the pandemic on inspections may be long-lasting,” the authors write. “As of 2020, 13% of foreign manufacturers have never had an inspection since doing business with the U.S. Another 17% have not been inspected for over five years. With current staffing levels, it will likely take a long time to remedy the backlog.”