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- BUSINESS, Page 59Business NotesPHARMACEUTICALSThe Capsules That Flunked
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- At first the growing generic drug-industry scandal was
- limited to a few unscrupulous newcomers. But last week the
- Government's probe of substandard generics struck an industry
- leader, Bolar Pharmaceutical of Copiague, N.Y. The Food and Drug
- Administration said that it intends to withdraw its approval of
- Bolar's generic version of Dyazide, the top-selling brand-name
- hypertension drug. Reason: the FDA says it can no longer be sure
- that the generic is biologically equivalent to its brand-name
- counterpart. After reviewing Bolar's records, the FDA found that
- the company had submitted two batches of its drug for approval
- in 1987. Only one passed the equivalency test, but it is unclear
- which version reached the market. Bolar claims that only the
- effective generic is in drugstores.
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