The Partnership for Safe Medicines 2018 Interchange

PSM’s 2018 conference was held on June 7, 2018 at the Knight Conference Center at The National Press Club, Washington D.C.

The 2018 PSM Interchange brought together policymakers, counterfeit drug victims, pharmaceutical manufacturers, patient advocates, law enforcement, and healthcare professionals to discuss solutions to the deadly impacts that counterfeit drugs are having upon U.S. Citizens. Carrie Luther, Lisa Hicks, and Jennifer Hodge shared with attendees their experiences of losing their sons to counterfeit pills made with fentanyl.

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Marvin D. Shepherd, Ph.D., President of The Partnership for Safe Medicines, Professor Emeritus at College of Pharmacy, UT-Austin
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Panel 1: Dangerous Open Borders: Policy and Law Enforcement Challenges of Drug Importation of Foreign Actors
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  • Don Bell, formerly of Canada Border Services Agency and Ontario Provincial Police
  • Tim Mackey, Director, Global Health Policy Institute; Associate Professor, Anesthesiology and Global Public Health and Investigator at the San Diego Center for Patient Safety at UC San Diego School of Medicine
  • George Karavetsos, Partner, DLA Piper; former Director of the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations
  • Moderator: Linda I. Marks, Senior Litigation Counsel,  The Department of Justice Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch

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Sally J. Greenberg, Executive Director of National Consumers League
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Panel 2: The Human Impacts of Counterfeits & Open Borders: Victims Have Their Say
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  • Lisa Hicks, mother of counterfeit oxycodone victim
  • Jennifer Hodge, mother of counterfeit Xanax victim
  • Carrie Luther, mother of counterfeit Xanax victim
  • Moderator: Shabbir Safdar, Executive Director, The Partnership for Safe Medicines

 

Milton A. Tyrrell, Supervisory Special Agent (Staff Coordinator) at the DEA's Synthetic Drugs and Chemicals Section
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Panel 3: Introduction of The Partnership for Safe Medicines' Fentanyl Council
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  • Marty Allain, Senior Program Manager, .Pharmacy Verified Websites Program, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy
  • Charlie Cichon, Executive Director, National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators
  • Lynn Thomson, Investigator for the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office
  • Moderator: Sven Bergmann, Senior Advisor, Anti-Illicit Trade Strategies, The Partnership for Safe Medicines