The drug manufacturer Novartis recalled both its Neoral capsules and its Sandimmune immunosuppressants last week because of their potentially hazardous packaging. In their recall announcement, Novartis pointed out that they believe that the blister packs that the medications come in may be too easy for children to get into.
How the accelerated approval process for drugs works
The path for prescription drugs to get approved and introduced on the market here in the United States is a multi-level process. Its manufacturer must generally get the preliminary go-ahead from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) before they can move forward with the critical testing stage. Some drugs get fast-tracked though thus bypassing stringent analysis of it though.
