Research: All Articles
Liang BA.*, Mackey TK. Prevalence and Global Health Implications of Social Media in Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising. J Med Internet Res 2011;13(3):e64
Background: Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA), linked to inappropriate medication use and higher health care expenditures, is the fastest growing form of pharmaceutical marketing. DTCA is legal only in the United States and New Zealand. However, the advent of online interactive social media “Web 2.0” technologies—that is, eDTCA 2.0—may circumvent DTCA legal proscriptions.Objective: The purpose of this study was…
[...]Liang BA.*, Mackey TK. Promoting online drug safety: Using Public–Private Partnerships to Deter Illicit Online Drug Sales. J Commer Biotechnol. (2011) 17, 266–271
Illicit online pharmacies selling counterfeit drugs in a global virtual marketplace remain a critical problem in global health. Yet they continue to operate with little regulation while growing numbers of consumers access the Internet for health information that may lead them to purchase dangerous drugs online. This global social problem requires immediate action to protect…
[...]Golocorbin Kon S, Mikov M. [Counterfeit Drugs as a Global Threat to Health]. [Article in Serbian]. Med Pregl. 2011 May-Jun;64(5-6):285-90.
Abstract According to the World Health Organisation, counterfeit medicines are medicines that are mislabelled deliberately and fraudulently regarding their identity and/or source. All kinds of medicines have been counterfeited, both branded and generic ones. Counterfeit medicines may include products containing correct or wrong ingredients; without active or with insufficiently or over-active ingredients, or with fake…
[...]Levchenko K, Pitsillidis A, Enright B, et al. Click Trajectories: End-to-End Analysis of the Spam Value Chain. Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium and Security and Privacy, Oakland, CA, May 2011.
Spam-based advertising is a business. While it has engendered both widespread antipathy and a multi-billion dollar anti-spam industry, it continues to exist because it fuels a profitable enterprise. We lack, however, a solid understanding of this enterprise’s full structure, and thus most anti-spam interventions focus on only one facet of the overall spam value chain…
[...]Danzon P, Johnson SJ, Long G, Furukawa MF. Commercial Importation of Prescription Drugs in the United States: Short-Run Implications. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 2011 36(2):295-316.
The option of legalizing the commercial importation of prescription drugs is of continued policy interest as a way to reduce U.S. drug spending. Using IMS data, we estimate potential savings from commercial drug importation under assumptions about percentage of drugs likely to attract imports; potential supply from foreign countries; and share of savings passed on…
[...]Shcherbakova N, Shepherd M*, Lawson K, and Richards K. The role of authorized generics in the prescription drug marketplace. Journal of Generic Medicines. 2011; 8(1):28-40.
This issue is currently in press.
[...]Hosseini SA, Darbooy Sh, Tehrani Banihashemi SA, Naseri SM, Dinarvand R. Counterfeit medicines: report of a cross-sectional retrospective study in Iran. Public Health. 2011 Mar; 125(3):165-71.
OBJECTIVES: To gain insight into the pharmaceutical grey market in Iran by reviewing inspection files of the Special Inspectorate Unit, Deputy Ministry for Food and Drugs, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and to define the counterfeit pharmaceutical pattern in Iran. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional retrospective study. METHODS: In total, 382 inspection files of pharmaceutical counterfeit…
[...]Liang B A*, Mackey T. Direct-to-Consumer Advertising With Interactive Internet Media. JAMA. 2011 2 23; 305 (8): 824-825.
Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is legal only in the United States and New Zealand and has been linked with drug overutilization, public health concerns, and higher costs. 1 Despite global proscriptions, DTCA is the most rapidly increasing form of pharmaceutical marketing, with approximately $4 billion in US expenditures, outpacing physician marketing and research and development. Liang…
[...]Veronin M. Packaging and Labeling of Pharmaceutical Products Obtained from the Internet. J Med Internet Res. 2011 Feb 15;13(1):e22.
Abstract BACKGROUND: For patients, the prescription container label may be the only source of instructions on how to take their medicines. In the United States, the legal requirements for a prescription label are set by federal law and state statutes. The container should be comparable to that which manufacturers use to package drug products and…
[...]New Patents in Anti-Counterfeiting Tech
Five companies have been issued patents for anti-counterfeiting technology ranging from packaging innovation to spectroscopy. Securing Pharma reports that Microsoft, AlpVision, Axsun, AuthentiForm, and CSEM have been issued patents for anti-counterfeiting medicine technologies. Microsoft has developed a method to create counterfeit resistant labels using unique images on labels that are not economically easy to duplicate,…
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