A new report from the HHS Office of the Inspector General indicates that some 9,200 medications are missing from the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory and that about 34,200 prescription drugs are listed incorrectly or no longer are manufactured. Most of the problems stem from pharmaceutical companies’ failure to comply with a federal law that requires them to list the medications they make with the FDA, according to the report. FDA officials said they agree with much of the report and that they are beginning to address problems noted in the report by revising they way pharmaceutical manufacturers list their products with the agency. As of February 2005, the directory included 123,856 medications, compared with about 39,000 in 1990.
