A box of paracetamol in a bathroom cabinet. A bag of saline hanging beside a hospital bed. Both have already crossed borders, changed hands, and passed a dozen inspections before they reached the people who need them. This is where that journey runs — and where it breaks. A journey most patients never see Every medicine begins as two separate ingredients: the active substance that does the clinical work, and the excipients — the fillers, coatings, stabilisers and solvents — t