Dear Reader,
We deserve institutions and businesses that act with honesty, integrity and transparency. But when they fall short, the American tradition of independent journalism plays a critical role in a functioning democracy, uncovering the machinations of the powerful and defending the public’s right to know. Investigative reporters do the work most of us cannot — digging deep, asking tough questions and demanding accountability when things go wrong.
Today, this essential work is under threat. As corporate interests dominate some of the media landscape and many newsrooms are shrinking, fewer reporters are left to scrutinize the halls of power. But here at ProPublica, we’re growing, we’re pressing on and we won’t stop. At the heart of our mission is a steadfast faith in the power of investigative reporting to spur change and right wrongs.
And it does. Just look at our reporting on the troubling lack of oversight at factories that make generic drugs.
Our reporters noticed that in just one year, the drug manufacturer Glenmark Pharmaceuticals had seven recalls for drugs that were made at the same factory and that didn’t dissolve properly — with potentially deadly consequences for some U.S. patients. So we took a closer look. Our first story traced the faulty pills to a single factory in central India that hadn’t been inspected by the Food and Drug Administration since before the pandemic.
Two months after our story was published, the FDA finally returned — the agency’s first inspection in five years — and discovered problems with cleaning and testing that it said could affect medicines shipped to American consumers. Then, in April, Glenmark recalled two dozen more generics — medicines for epilepsy, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and high blood pressure — after the FDA determined that the factory failed to comply with U.S. manufacturing standards and that the faulty drugs could harm people. Glenmark says it is working with the FDA to ensure compliance with manufacturing operations and quality systems.
But our reporting didn’t stop there. Our reporters focused on troubling gaps in the FDA’s oversight of generic drug manufacturers and found that since 2013 the agency had quietly allowed more than 20 troubled overseas factories, mostly in India, to continue sending some widely used medicines to the U.S. even after those facilities were banned from exporting other drugs to the American market because of concerns about contamination and other breaches. The agency didn’t actively track whether the imported drugs were harming users and kept the practice of exempting popular generics largely hidden from the public and Congress.
The FDA told ProPublica that divulging drug names on its inspection reports would violate federal law that protects confidential commercial information. The agency said it only releases the information with approval from drug companies or in cases where companies have already made the details public. Current and former officials said the restriction was imposed long ago by FDA lawyers who interpreted the law broadly because they feared being sued by drugmakers.
Senators are now proposing sweeping changes to oversight of generics, calling on the FDA to conduct more testing for drug quality and to alert hospitals and other purchasers when foreign manufacturers with safety failures are given a special pass to send their products to the U.S.
Impact has been at the core of ProPublica’s mission since we launched in 2008, and our newsroom’s track record of holding power to account is unmatched. You can see it all in our impact reports, published three times a year. Our work has proven time and again that people and policymakers, when confronted with difficult truths, will be inspired to push for change.
Our in-depth reporting shines a light on the stories that matter most, but we can’t do it alone because finding the truth is expensive. Every breakthrough investigation is powered by readers like you. Your support can help uncover the facts. Make a donation of any amount to drive our work forward into 2026.
Thanks so much,
Tova Genesen
Proud ProPublican
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