Cleveland News Station Ends Up With Fake Drugs When They Try Buying Online
A news channel conducted their own investigation into purchasing prescription drugs online. Testing of the drugs they received proved they were counterfeit, and in some cases contained dangerous banned compounds.
A Colorado news station, 9 News Colorado, shared with their viewers the disturbing experience of their sister news station, WKYC in Cleveland. WKYC’s investigation in November 2013 tried buying two different prescription drugs (Lipitor, the popular cholesterol lowering drug, and Viagra, the ED treatment) from online pharmacies they found via an online search, reports 9 News.
9 News reports that the websites claimed the drugs were being sent from Canada, but when the packages arrived, their customs labels indicated that they had been shipped from China, India, and Pakistan, and contained innocuous items such as “plastic beads” and “cards.”
According to WKYC, when they turned the drugs over to the manufacturer for testing, the results were disturbing. Pfizer testing found that some of the medication was simply counterfeit, containing no active ingredient, but one batch also contained diclofenac sodium, a dangerous and highly restricted steroid treatment that was the main component of Remoufan Plus, the deadly weight-loss “natural supplement” that the FDA recalled in December 2012.
The FDA stated that consumers who had taken the supplements containing diclofenac sodium had experienced “fatalities, stroke, severe bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract (including the esophagus, stomach and intestines), dizziness, insomnia (difficulty sleeping), high blood sugar levels and problems with liver and kidney functions, as well as corticosteroid withdrawal syndrome.”
Patients should only buy prescription medications from a safe, reputable source that is properly licensed. Online pharmacies with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) full accreditation are the safest way to purchase prescription drugs online. No other accreditation or verification program for online drug sellers covers as many areas—or as thoroughly—as VIPPS. Among other things, the VIPPS criteria examine:
- licensure compliance
- how the patient’s or caregiver’s identity is verified
- patient medication consultation
- how medications are dispensed
Don’t give any personal information, such as your social security number, credit card number, insurance information or medical history unless you are sure the Web site will keep your information safe and private. Look for privacy and security policies that are easy-to-find and easy-to-understand. Also, make sure that the site will not share your contact information with third-parties unless you agree.
Learn more about “Canadian pharmacies.”