Research: All Articles
Shepherd MD*, The effect of US pharmaceutical importation on the Canadian drug supply. CPJ. 2010 Sept/Oct; 143(5):226-33.
Abstract. Background and objectives: For over a decade, many US politicians have advocated that the US allow personal and commercial drug importation. Currently, the only entities that can legally import a pharmaceutical in the US are pharmaceutical manufacturers. Our objective was to compare the number of prescriptions dispensed in Canada with the US and estimate the effect US drug importation from Canada will have on the Canadian drug supply.
Methods: A model was created to measure the potential effect on the Canadian drug supply. The model uses the number of US prescriptions being sourced from Canada and the number of prescriptions dispensed in Canada in 2007 as the baseline. The number of days to exhaust the 2007 Canadian drug supply was calculated.
Results: The model found that if 10% of the US prescriptions were filled from Canadian sources (manufacturer, wholesale or retail), Canada’s 2007 drug supply would be exhausted in 224 days. If the demand from the US reached 20%, the 2007 supply would be exhausted in 155 days. The model was redone focusing on brand name drugs, with generic drugs removed. It was found that with a US demand of 10% and 20%, the 2007 Canadian supply for brand name drugs would be exhausted in 268 and 201 days, respectively.
Conclusion: US drug importation is a threat to Canada’s drug supply. Even if the US demand were 10%, Canada would need to dramatically increase manufacturing, triple drug importation, or most likely control or halt pharmaceutical shipments to the US.
[...]Shepherd, MD*. Black medicine. AQ. 2010 Summer; 4(3):82-5.
The exploring Internet trade in counterfeit medicine.
When you’re sick, taking the right medicine is almost as important as finding a good doctor. But what if the medicine is fake? A black market in counterfeit or low-quality drugs is fast becoming the world’s newest health hazard.
[...]Coustasse A, Arvidson C, Rutsohn P. Pharmaceutical counterfeiting and the RFID technology intervention. J Hosp Mark Public Relations. 2010 Jul;20(2):100-15
Both nationally and internationally, pharmaceutical counterfeiting has become a problem that is threatening economic stability and public health. The purpose of the present research study review was to analyze the scope and severity of pharmaceutical counterfeiting and to establish if the implantation of the Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) model can more efficiently be used…
[...]Sugita M, Miyakawa M. Economic analysis of use of counterfeit drugs: health impairment risk of counterfeit phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor taken as an example. Environ Health Prev Med. 2010 Jul; 15(4):244-51.
OBJECTIVES: The size of the market for counterfeit drugs throughout the world is considerable. Many cases of health impairment due to counterfeits have been reported. The market share of counterfeits in drug markets in developed countries is smaller than that in developing countries. However, the size of the market for counterfeits of phosphodiesterase type 5…
[...]Chaubey SK, Sangla KS, Suthaharan EN, Tan YM. Severe Hypoglycaemia Associated with Ingesting Counterfeit Medication. Med J Aust. 2010;192(12):716-7.
Cross-border importation of traditional and prescription medications is common, and many of these drugs are not approved by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. Furthermore, counterfeit versions of prescription medications are also available (eg, weight-loss medications, anabolic steroids, and medications to enhance sexual performance). We describe a 54-year-old man with the first Australian case of severe…
[...]Gaudiano MC, Di Maggio A, Antoniella E, Valvo L, Bertocchi P, Manna L, Bartolomei M, Alimonti S, Rodomonte AL. An LC method for the simultaneous screening of some common counterfeit and sub-standard antibiotics Validation and uncertainty estimation. J Pha
"For export only" anti-inflammatory and lightening creams are medicinal products sold in African countries for their skin whitening action. In the last years, Rapid Alerts from European Medicinal Regulatory Agencies evidenced the presence of a large number of illegal and counterfeit anti-inflammatory products advertised for their whitening action on black skin in the European market.…
[...]Martino R, Malet-Martino M, Gilard V, Balayssac S. Counterfeit drugs: analytical techniques for their identification. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2010;398(1):77-92.
In recent years, the number of counterfeit drugs has increased dramatically, including not only "lifestyle" products but also vital medicines. Besides the threat to public health, the financial and reputational damage to pharmaceutical companies is substantial. The lack of robust information on the prevalence of fake drugs is an obstacle in the fight against drug…
[...]Rodomonte AL, Gaudiano MC, Antoniella E, Lucente D, Crusco V, Bartolomei M, Bertocchi P, Manna L, Valvo L, Alhaique F, Muleri N. Counterfeit drugs detection by measurement of tablets and secondary packaging colour. J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2010;53(2):215-20.
The growth of pharmaceutical counterfeiting is a major public health problem. This growth is resulting in a proportional increase in the number of samples that medicines control laboratories have to test. Thus the need for simple and affordable preliminary screening methods to be used by inspectors to decide in the field whether to collect a…
[...]Shepherd M.* Beef up international cooperation on counterfeits. Nat Med. 2010;16(4):366.
Counterfeit drugs are a menacing and deadly problem worldwide. The proliferation of fake drugs is astounding, with over 100 countries reporting incidents of fake drugs, according to a 2008 report from the Pharmaceutical Security Institute. And incidents of drug counterfeiting show no evidence of declining: some industry insiders suggest that the number of counterfeit medicines…
[...]World Health Organization. Growing Threat from Counterfeit Medicines. Bull World Health Organ. 2010;88(4):247-8.
Lifesaving drugs are not exempt from the trade in counterfeit medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) is working with Interpol to dislodge the criminal networks raking in billions of dollars from this cynical trade. Growing Threat from Counterfeit Medicines
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