New York Post: Tainted eyedrops pulled by CVS, Target made by barefoot workers in India: report

New York Post - 11/10/23

Tainted eyedrops yanked from pharmacy shelves over fears they could cause infections and even blindness were made in a factory in India where workers walked around barefoot and safety test results were faked, according to an explosive report.

The 26 over-the-counter products — sold as store brands at retailers including CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart and Target — came from a company in Navi Mumbai called Kilitch Healthcare India Ltd., according to a Bloomberg investigation.

On Oct. 25, the Food & Drug Administration issued a recall on the more than two dozen eyedrop brands after agency investigators found unsanitary conditions at the India plant and “positive bacterial test results from environmental sampling of critical drug production areas in the facility.”

The government report, obtained by Bloomberg, said that workers were showing up to the factory barefoot or were not wearing protective gear in sterile areas while one person was observed combing their hair amidst cleaning equipment and others were forging the dates on products attesting to their sterility.

The FDA has warned consumers about 78 over-the-counter eyedrops this year, but only 13 have been recalled, according to the Dry Eye Foundation, a non-profit in Seattle. 

The group raised a warning flag back in April when it alerted the public about a “sharp rise in eye drops marketed in the US that may pose health risks to consumers.”

-New York Post