January 13, 2025: WHO warns about a fake cancer drug with English packaging
Major Stories
WHO reported a fake cancer treatment. This year’s Notorious Markets report focused on fake online pharmacies.
All the images associated with this counterfeit appear in the pdf linked at the bottom of the WHO alert
The World Health Organization issued an alert about a counterfeit version of IMFINZI, an infused drug that treats certain bladder, lung, and biliary tract cancers, found in the unregulated supply chain in Armenia, Lebanon and Turkey. The fake products contain no active ingredient, and carry labels and packaging in English and fake DSCSA serialization data that makes them resemble FDA-approved drugs.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative’s 2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy delves into the problem of illicit pharmacy websites selling counterfeit and unregulated medicines that threaten Americans, like, for example, this first responder in Pennsylvania, whose death has been linked to a pharmacy website operating in the Dominican Republic. The report cites data from the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, which states that only four percent of an estimated 35,000 online pharmacies operating worldwide are operating according to the law.
Illegal online medicine entering the country is a border security issue: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized over 1.5 million pharmaceutical items in fiscal 2023, and referred tens of thousands of suspected counterfeit medicines to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors. CBP has proposed stricter information collection requirements for “de minimis” shipments valued at $800 or less, to improve the agency’s ability to identify and stop shipments of illicit drugs, counterfeit or pirated goods and other contraband.
An editorial by PSM board member Andrea Thomas in the Boulder Daily Camera urged the University of Colorado Boulder’s Independent Interfraternity Council on the Hill to supply Narcan or other opioid reversal agents to fraternity chapters it oversees. Thomas has tirelessly advocated for fentanyl safety since she lost her daughter to half of a counterfeit oxycodone pill in 2018.
Domestic News
Two Indian chemical companies and an executive were indicted for selling fentanyl precursor chemicals.
The FDA warned XO Biologix, LLC of Austin, Texas to stop marketing an unapproved drug derived from amniotic fluid.
A federal judge unsealed indictments against two Indian chemical companies and a senior executive for allegedly conspiring to distribute and import fentanyl precursor chemicals to the U.S. According to the Department of Justice, the company shipped packages of precursor chemicals manifested as vitamin C and antacids. These indictments join similar cases filed against China-based companies in 2024.
Erik Miller of Sturgis, Michigan, received a 70-month prison sentence for distributing controlled substances, including methamphetamine, MDMA, and counterfeit Xanax, as well as other prescription drugs on the dark web.
Keith Lawrence Middlebrook of Huntington Beach, California, was sentenced to 98 months in prison and must pay $25,000 for wire fraud. In March 2020 the part-time actor solicited potential investors in California, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Colorado to fund the sale of a fake cure for COVID-19.
International News
Counterfeit medicines incidents in the United Kingdom, India, and Thailand.
Image: FDA Thailand
Police seized 300 boxes of unapproved, imported prescription drugs from a shop in Birmingham, England.
Authorities in India discovered counterfeit versions of the antacid Pan 40 and the antibiotic Augmentin in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.
Police and health officials in Thailand raided locations in Nakhon Pathom, Samut Sakhon and Bangkok and confiscated counterfeit cough syrup worth almost $300,000 on the retail market.