August 12, 2024: International incidents show the breadth of the counterfeit medicine trade
Domestic News
Eduard Yusupov and Diana Fuzailov, of Wading River, New York, pleaded guilty in federal court to introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and wire fraud. The couple sold sexual enhancement products made with illegally imported, undeclared sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra. They marketed the capsules as “all-natural” supplements. The business, Love Potion, Inc was active between July 2016 and February 2022.
An example from Love Potion, Inc's Facebook page
International News
A new study concludes that one-fifth of African medicines are fake or substandard. Health Canada warns about unauthorized treatments. Additional news in the U.K., Thailand and Iraq.
After a systematic review of 27 studies, researchers from Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia concluded that one-fifth of medicines in Africa are substandard or counterfeit. The prevalence of fake drugs in sub-Saharan Africa causes up to 500,000 deaths each year.
Health Canada warned residents that it had seized unauthorized sexual enhancement products made with undeclared pharmaceuticals in Niagara Falls. The agency also warned residents not to seek treatment at an Alberta medspa performing unauthorized plasma treatments that could cause serious health issues because of exposure to contaminants and infectious disease.
Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police busted counterfeit pill operations in Drummondville and Dixville, Quebec, seizing over a million fake oxycodone pills suspected to contain the synthetic opioid protonitazepyne, a pill press and other pill making equipment.
The United Kingdom’s National Pharmacy Association warned U.K. residents not to buy fake weight loss injections as shortages of Ozempic and Wegovy continue.
Thai police busted three factories in Samut Sakhon for making counterfeit cough syrup. They seized 45,000 bottles of cough syrup,raw materials, production equipment, and packaging.
In Iraq, Kurdistan Regional Government's Directorate for the Control of Drug Import and Production reported that it had found counterfeit Duphaston, a synthetic progesterone, in pharmacies.
Inside a pill lab in Drummondville, Quebec, August 2024 Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police