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# Proposal for Drug Product ‘Quality Scores’
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/proposal-for-drug-product-quality-scores/
- Published: 2020-05-28T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T16:16:14.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5146883

Researchers from several academic facilities are proposing a system of “quality scores” to enable health systems and other purchasers and payers of medication to differentiate among drug products according to evidence-based metrics. Writing in a MedRxiv [pre-print](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.22.20110775v1.full.pdf?ref=fdaweb.com), the researchers say that currently buyers and payers of pharmaceuticals have little to no visibility into any quality metrics for the manufacturers of drug products or the products themselves.

They propose a system of metrics that includes both broadly applicable regulatory information and more drug-specific, third-party chemical analysis information. The researchers say their proposed metrics can be aggregated into a scale of 0-100 that can also be color-coded as red, yellow, and green.

Using real-world data from currently on-market valsartan drug products, the system generated a variety of quality scores for six major manufacturers. The researchers found no significant correlation between quality score and price.

“The implementation of drug quality scores at healthcare institutions in the United States and their potential utilization by regulators could create a much-needed, market-driven incentive for pharmaceutical manufacturers to produce quality medications that would reduce drug shortages and improve public health,” the article says.