Counterfeit Medicine News for the Week of June 15, 2020

Counterfeit Fentanyl Pills Seized in 6/18/2020 Ontario bust

PSM continues to monitor public reports of dangerous counterfeit medical supplies and treatments. Last week’s news includes prosecutions of COVID-19 scammers and counterfeit pill traffickers, and a massive fentanyl pill seizure in Canada.

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Freedom Of Access Act Response From The State of Maine

In June 2019, the governor of Maine signed into law LD 1272, a bill that would allow the state to establish a wholesale Canadian prescription drug importation program. On April 13, 2020, the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) filed a request to receive copies of all submitted responses to Maine’s Request for Comment (RFC) for…

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Security Breach Illustrates Another Danger of Fake Online Pharmacies

Planet Drugs Direct, an online pharmacy based in Winnipeg, Canada, has announced a data breach. Hackers broke into their servers, exposing customers’ names, medical details, and contact and banking information. Legitscript is unequivocal in calling Planet Drugs Direct a “Rogue Internet Pharmacy,” their worst rating for online pharmacies, accusing them of violating state and federal laws.

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What Canadians Are Saying About Drug Importation, January – December 2019

What Canadians Are Saying About Drug Importation January 2019 – December 2019 Download a copy of this page. Canadians worried by plan to let Americans import drugs (8/1/2019) “It’s clear to us that whatever measures need to be put in place to prevent, for example, large-scale importation by online pharmacies or large-scale importation by large…

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Canadian Doctors, Pharmacists, Patient Groups and Government Representatives Consider State Importation Proposals Unfeasible

In spite of recent efforts by legislators in Florida, Maine, Colorado, and elsewhere, Canadian patient groups are vocally opposing pending legislation that proposes importing prescription medications from the Canadian drug supply. Paul Blanchard of the New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association told CBC News, “The country’s pharmacists association has been talking to the federal government … to make sure that the federal government and Canada is aware that the Americans are literally knocking on our door.”

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Partnership for Safe Medicines 2019 Congressional Briefings (September 24, 2019)

On Tuesday, September 24, 2019, counterfeit medication victims and their families, American and Canadian patient groups, local and federal law enforcement, and other experts in the fight against counterfeit medicines gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss how importation proposals threaten to trigger drug shortages in Canada while wreaking havoc on medication safety for U.S. patients.

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