News
Politifact ignores the world of criminal counterfeiters
Politifact.com emailed us this week with questions about a recent ad about the dangers of attempting to import medicine from Canada. They labeled it negatively, but we noticed that they ignored certain facts while coming to their conclusion. In the interest of fairness, we’ve published below both the email from Politifact and our heavily sourced response. Judge for yourself if legislators in Florida are being naive about the risks of importation in a world with a highly evolved criminal counterfeit scheme.
[...]Arizona Couple Indicted for Selling Counterfeit Pills Made with Fentanyl, Pills Implicated in Death of Arkansas Man
Jacob Medina and his pregnant girlfriend, Diane Erika Marin, have been arrested in connection with a counterfeit pill distribution ring that is allegedly responsible for killing an Arkansas man, the KATV reports.
[...]Oncology Practice Managers: This “drug importation proposal that could put Floridians at risk”
In this editorial, which was published in the Palm Beach Post on April 22, 2019, Michelle Flowers writes about Florida’s history of black market cancer treatments and the danger importation poses to patients. Flowers is president of the Oncology Managers of Florida.
[...]Senators Cassidy, Hassan, Kustoff and Kuster Reintroduce Pill Press Legislation, The STEER Act
The proposed legislation, H.R. 6554, will require that anyone who owns, purchases or imports pill press must be registered them with the U.S. Attorney General.
[...]New PSM ads highlight concerns of FDA Commissioner Gottlieb about the dangers of Florida’s importation legislation
Tallahassee, FL (April 18, 2019) – Today the Partnership for Safe Medicines released new ads to run in several parts of Florida that highlight the dangers of Florida attempting to import medicine from Canada. Five different commissioners of the US Food and Drug Administration, appointed by both Republicans and Democrats, have stated that such proposals are dangerous to patients, will expose them to counterfeits, and are unlikely to reduce the price of medicine.
[...]Head of Patient Advocacy Organization Warns That Drug Importation Is Not The Solution American Patients Need
In this editorial by Terry Wilcox published in Inside Sources on April 18, 2019, Terry Wilcox, executive director of a patient advocacy organization advices federal and state representatives that allowing drug importation is not the right policy solution for America’s high prescription drug prices…
[...]Canadian law enforcement: Smugglers will exploit importation to traffic counterfeit medicine
In this editorial, which was published in Colorado Politics on April 17, 2019, Don Bell, a 30-year veteran of Canadian law enforcement and border protection, warns that Canadian drug importation will open the U.S. to counterfeit medicine and exacerbate drug shortages in Canada.
[...]WHO: Counterfeit medicines kill up to 300,000 children each year
Counterfeit medicines kill up to 300,000 children each year See PSM’s infographic for a visual summary. In a shocking new report published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, researchers have documented the true toll of counterfeit medicines around the world due to medicine being subtherapeutic or outright ineffective. Subtherapeutic medicine allows…
[...]The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board Comes Out Against Drug Importation
The editorial board of the The Wall Street Journal published this editorial on April 15, 2019. In it, they write:
“The argument that drug importation threatens the integrity of the drug supply is often dismissed because pharmaceutical lobbyists make it. But keeping the drug supply free from contaminated or counterfeit products is not easy, and the World Health Organization has warned that 1 in 10 medical products in the developing world are phony. It isn’t clear who is liable if counterfeits are found in Florida, but you can bet it won’t be the politicians.”
[...]Partnership for Safe Medicines Launches Advertising Campaign in Florida to Oppose Importation
April 12, 2019 (Tallahassee, FL) — Importation undermines our core efforts to keep our medicine supply safe. State and federal authorities regulate every entity in the U.S. supply chain from the point of manufacture until a medicine is dispensed, and that makes counterfeits in the legitimate supply chain rare. In 2013, Congress passed the Drug…
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