Judiciary Committee Will Help Stop Fake Drug Sellers Promises Sen. Leahy

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said his panel would take up legislation to combat counterfeit medication distribution following a “60 Minutes” story exposing the importation of fake drugs into the U.S. each year

Sen. Leahy said he was developing legislation to give the Justice Department stronger tools to fight counterfeit medicine sellers, reports The Hill.

“Often these counterfeit pharmaceuticals are manufactured overseas and sold to American consumers through rogue websites on the Internet,” said Leahy. “This must be stopped.”

Director of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Enforcement David Elder confirmed the agency’s need for greater resources to fight fake drugs in CBS’s piece.

“Our resources certainly haven’t kept pace with the volume of products coming into the country,” said Elder in the 60 Minutes piece. “We don’t have the authority to actually destroy these products on-site. The products could very well come back through another mail facility.”
Leahy’s staff confirmed the priority of the counterfeit drug issue but could not confirm the schedule for the committee’s process.