Research: All Articles
Montoya ID, Jano E. Online Pharmacies: Safety and Regulatory Considerations. Int J Health Serv. 2007;37(2):279-89.
Sales of consumer products over the Internet have grown rapidly, including sales of pharmaceutical products. Online pharmacies mimic mail order pharmacies. To operate legally online, pharmacies must be licensed in every state in which sales occur. Although online pharmacies provide benefits to consumers, when compared with traditional pharmacies patients' safety may be compromised. Purchasing prescription…
[...]Theriault J. Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals: Understanding the Threat. J Biolaw Bus. 2006;9(4): 46-50.
The manufacture and distribution of counterfeit medicines is big business. Counterfeits threaten the health and safety of patients around the world, who depend upon authentic medicines prescribed by their doctors to save or improve the quality of their lives. The sale of counterfeit medicines not only funds criminal enterprises and terrorist organizations, but also undermines…
[...]Kubic TT,* Mollo SJ. Pharmaceutical Counterfeiting Trends: Understanding The Extent of Criminal Activity. J Biolaw Bus. 2006;9(4):51-56.
Pharmaceutical crime is a tremendously challenging and growing facet of international trade. In an effort to understand the scope and nature of the problem, cooperative strategies through the Pharmaceutical Security Institute have been instituted. PSI utilizes a broad range of skills and approaches to detect and provide information on this critical issue for public and…
[...]Eban K. Dangerous Doses. J Biolaw Bus. 2006;9(4):57-60.
For years, the nation's medicine has moved through a thriving gray market of middlemen, who buy and sell medicine to one another. These middlemen often resort to fraud in order to obtain medicine for resale more cheaply through drug diversion. Soaring prices, weak laws and numerous opportunities for arbitrage have attracted narcotics traffickers and organized…
[...]Schulte G. An Overview of Pharmaceutical Smuggling Cases in San Diego: It Goes Better When Agencies Work Together. J Biolaw Bus. 2006;9(4):41-45.
The U.S. Customs Service and its successor agency U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is now located within the Department of Homeland Security, have conducted investigations into the illegal importation of unapproved and counterfeit pharmaceuticals for decades. Other federal and state agencies have conducted similar investigations. Advances in technology have created an increasingly favorable…
[...]Thomson J. The European Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: Implications for the USA. J Biolaw Bus. 2006;9(4):65-68.
As American consumers seek their medicines at the best price, many are buying online, from foreign-based websites. Many of these websites purport to be based in Canada and some legitimate Canadian websites source their drugs from Great Britain or Ireland-believing that these drugs come from a country with a secure supply chain. This is, at…
[...]Liang BA.* Crime, Terrorism, and Counterfeit Drugs: Addressing the International Regime. J Biolaw Bus. 2006;9(4): 36-40.
Producing counterfeit drugs is a lucrative, low risk, high return business. Organized criminal elements and terrorist organizations are exploiting this reality across borders to fund their activities. An interdisciplinary, multi-focal strategy to raise awareness of the issue, establish stakeholder reporting systems, reform penalties to fit the crime, and invest in technology must be engaged to…
[...]Liang BA.* Structurally Sophisticated or Lamentably Limited? Mechanisms to Ensure Safety of the Medicine Supply. Albany Law J Sci Technol. 2006;16(3):483-524
Abstract. The use of medicines is ubiquitous. The benefits of pharmaceuticals are sought by virtually all citizens around the world to assist in sustaining life, treating illness, and preventing disease. As such, they represent a significant tool in promoting the quality of human existence. Because of this extensive demand for drugs for these purposes, there…
[...]Liang BA.* Parallel Trade in Pharmaceuticals: Injecting the Counterfeit Element into the Public Health. NC J Int Law Com Reg. 2006;31(4):847-900
Abstract. Varying prices for medicines create incentives to move products from one market to another in an effort to arbitrage the difference; this is known as parallel trade. Nevertheless, this situation allows nefarious individuals to introduce counterfeits into the drug supply due to weaknesses in detection. Both developed and developing countries around the world experience…
[...]Liang BA.* The Scourge of Counterfeit Drugs: No Easy Answers. J Biolaw Bus. 2006;9(2):3-7.
Counterfeit drugs are a scourge known throughout the world, and patients have been harmed and killed because of their presence. Regulation and penalties are weak against purveyors of fake medicines, yet entering and profiting from this illicit business is low cost with high returns. The Internet has fueled the sale of these counterfeits, while the…
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