Protect Patients from Counterfeit Drugs Through SAFE Sourcing

Learn how health care professionals can protect patients from counterfeit drugs by sourcing medicines safely.

At PSM’s 2104 Interchange Howard Sklamberg, the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Global Regulatory Operations and Policy, spoke about the challenge of protecting American patients from counterfeit drugs. “The bad actors are all over the globe,” he said. “They can get to our shores in numerous and devious ways and they can operate like ghosts, from a single computer terminal which a reach to millions of individuals, from every point of the compass.”

In this environment, health care professionals must be especially vigilant about the safety of the medicines they purchase and dispense to patients. Avoid, detect, and report unsafe medicines & vendors by

• establishing a list of licensed wholesale distributors and drug products at risk of shortages, diversion or counterfeiting and ensuring that those distributors can verify the pedigree and safe handling of their medicines
• being alert to unlicensed vendors who may be distributing unapproved or damaged medicines,
• and reporting suspicious vendors or products to the FDA and state regulators.