by Debbie Cenziper and Megan Rose

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

ProPublica wanted to know something simple: Where a widely used generic drug was made and whether that factory had any quality problems. Instead, we found ourselves navigating a labyrinth of company names and complex databases that few regular consumers would even know exist.

And even after all that detective work, we hit a dead end.

Atorvastatin is a generic drug that treats high cholesterol and prevents heart attacks and strokes. It’s one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States, and many manufacturers make it.

We started with a label on a patient’s pill bottle. It shows the name of what appears to be the drug’s manufacturer: Quallent. The only addresses on the label are in Ohio and New Jersey and are for Express Scripts, a company that manages prescription benefits for insurers and employers.

So we went to

© ProPublica