Analysis of federal data conducted by the Associated Press has revealed that the United States government was paying millions for drugs that had not undergone safety and effectiveness reviews by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Nevertheless, they were still covered under Medicaid, the U.S. health program for low-income American families, the AP further reported.

The analysis showed that since the year 2004, over $200 million had been spent on such risky drugs, which are often linked to many health issues and even dozens of deaths, the Associated Press informed.

Data suggested that from 2004 to 2007, Medicaid had spent approximately $198 million on over one hundred unapproved drugs, which are still being sold today, although data for 2008 was not available to be investigated.

The Associated Press used Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines to check whether the drugs complied with safety requirements and reported their findings to the latter institution, which stated that thousands of unapproved medications might be available on the market to private patients.

The majority of these drugs are used to treat colds and pain and they hit the U.S. market some decades ago, before the FDA set stricter review regulations back in the 1960s.

Even though the Administration informed they were trying to get these drugs pulled from the market, conflicting federal laws still allow the medications to be covered under both Medicaid and private health insurance plans. The FDA has estimated that unapproved drugs made for 2 percent of all prescriptions filled by pharmacies throughout the United States, which translates as 72 million scripts a year.

The unapproved medications that the Associated Press found listed to the FDA include Carbofed, used to treat colds and flu, Hylira, a dry skin ointment, Andehist, a decongestant and ICAR Prenatal, a vitamin tablet. Data gathered from Medicaid showed that the health program had paid $7.3 million for Carbofed products from 2004 to 2007, $146,000 for Hylira, $4.8 million for Andehist and $900,000 for ICAR Prenatal.