HEALTH

FDA Asks for Partial Shutdown of Generic Drug Maker: Federal regulators asked a federal judge to order generic drug maker Barr Laboratories Inc. to stop making and selling 15 pharmaceutical products and improve its production of 45 other drugs. In inspections of Barr’s plants in Northvale, N.J., and Pomona, N.Y., the Food and Drug Administration said it found hundreds of cases in which drugs failed quality tests. “They routinely release products that have failed to meet their specifications,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Beth Kaswan said. In June, Barr agreed to stop making 115 drugs. Bruce Downey, Barr’s lead attorney, told Wolin that no one has ever been injured by a Barr product. “There is not a single bit of evidence to show that Barr drugs . . . are deficient,” Downey said.