December 16, 2024: Black market medicine in Texas and Tennessee
Major Stories
Patients harmed in Texas and police arrest an individual for selling black market weight loss drugs in Tennessee.
Police in Houston arrested an unlicensed woman who allegedly was injecting clients with cosmetic filler illegally imported from South Korea. The first victim told police she found the defendant via TikTok. Since the arrest, an additional six victims have come forward.
Vials of black market weight loss drugs seized by the Western Tennessee Drug Task Force
Police arrested a woman in western Tennessee after a two-month investigation led them to believe she has been selling black market weight loss injectable drugs. Police are still working to ascertain the contents of the vials, which were marked as being not for human consumption and for research purposes only
Domestic News
Testosterone pills seized by CBP and pills press cases in three states.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized over 21 pounds of testosterone pills and other steroids while conducting a search of a vehicle in Laredo, Texas.
A Rhode Island man admitted in federal court to his role in running a drug trafficking organization that used a pill press to manufacture and distribute counterfeit pills.
Police in Belmont, New York continue to disrupt drug traffickers operating in the area, including the seizure of two industrial pill presses from a home in October.
Erik Ventura of Rhode Island was sentenced in federal court to ten years after admitting to his role in a drug trafficking organization that made and sold counterfeit pills.
Law enforcement across the country continue to seize pill pressing used to make counterfeit pills. Click here to learn more about how this issue is impacting where you live.
International News
Stories out of India, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.
FDA announcing Glenmark Pharmaceutical's June 24, 2024 recall
ProPublica published a piece examining a series of recalls initiated by India-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals between October 2023 and July 2024 due to the pills not dissolving correctly. The recalls affected millions of pills prescribed to U.S. patients.
The United Kingdom’s Royal Pharmaceutical Society issued a warning about patients being targeted by unregistered websites selling counterfeit weight loss drugs.
Sassoon General Hospital in India has taken the drastic step to testing all medicines that it has to verify that they are legitimate following a scandal that saw a supplier sell counterfeit drugs to multiple hospitals.
Authorities in several Indian states initiated recalls after laboratory tests confirmed that pills seized in a raid in October lacked the proper active pharmaceutical ingredients.
A counterfeit drug manufacturer in Uzbekistan received a $37.5M UZS fine for producing a fake drug whose design and branding was meant to fool patients into thinking the medicine was from the legitimate manufacturer.