Pharmaceutical Firms May Have Used Relief Effort to Dump Useless Drugs

At least half of the drugs donated by U.S. pharmaceutical companies during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina were unusable, and there is evidence the relief effort may have been used to dump outdated supplies, according to a study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine. The $2,000-per-ton cost of disposing of an estimated 17,000 tons of the useless medical supplies now falls on the World Health Organization. The researchers also said the companies have probably received tax deductions for their worthless contributions.

Drugs whose shelf life had expired by the time they arrived, drugs with unreadable labels, and medicines spoiled during transportation or storage were commonly sent to the war-torn region. Some donations even included army medical supplies from the World War II.