World News
Inside the World of Counterfeit Drugs
Part 1: Your critical role in safe medicines — In recent blog entries, the Partnership for Safe Medicines’ (PSM) experts have warned consumers and pharmacists of the dangers that counterfeit drugs pose, recapped legislation surrounding these issues and highlighting incidents of counterfeit drugs from across the world. However, this month we have invited guest blogger Gregory Zec to share his thoughts on some current drug safety issues. This week, Gregory uses a fictional consumer’s experiences (which he based on real patients’ stories) to explore the confusion many patients encounter from when they receive repackaged, imported prescription drugs from a legitimate pharmacy.
[...]On The Trail of Counterfeit Drugs in China [[Bejing, China]]
A trip down to a village pharmacy recently alerted Wang Yansheng – a traditional medicine practitioner – of the far-reaching infiltration of counterfeit drugs in China's rural areas. To relieve his father's chronic throat problem, Wang asked for a popular brand of Chinese herbal medicine at the pharmacy in Anhui countryside. Instead, he inadvertently took…
[...]Dangerous Problems with Counterfeit Viagra
The world, including the US, is being flooded with counterfeit Viagra and other erectile dysfunction medications. A report in the Feb 12, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine highlights the dangerous problems. The article reports on a total of 150 non-diabetic patients with severe hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) were admitted to the…
[...]South-East Asia ‘must clamp down on fake drugs’ [[Burma]]
Andrew Witty, the chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, has waded into the debate on fake pharmaceuticals by urging governments in South-East Asia to clamp down on counterfeiters. Mr Witty told The Times that more needed to be done to punish those who are involved with producing and selling dangerous fake treatments. By Tom Bawden 23 February…
[...]Vested interests in counterfeit drugs [[Nairobi, Kenya]]
Counterfeit drugs are flooding into Africa, where up to one in three medicines can be fake, causing widespread suffering and death. The World Health Organisation wants an international agreement to tackle the threat but is being thwarted by members such as India and Brazil, more concerned with vested interests than African patients. By Bright Simons…
[...]Protecting Our Supply Chain from Counterfeit Drugs
In the fight against substandard and counterfeit drugs, we can’t forget that these unscrupulous businessmen and counterfeiters don’t just make fake prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, they also counterfeit the raw materials and ingredients used by legitimate manufactures.
[...]UAE’s efforts to combat faux pharmaceuticals [[Dubai, UAE]]
The plain white boxes with dull grey lettering that line pharmacy shelves are supposed to contain medicine to improve people’s well being. But worldwide concern over the legitimacy of pharmaceuticals has increased markedly in the last three years. At an open forum attended by representatives of the Ministry of Health and private sector on Thursday…
[...]The Link Between Drug Importation and Counterfeit Drugs
Last week, BBC File On 4 published a story detailing how counterfeit drugs infiltrated the United Kingdom’s national drug supply in 2007. The Medicines Health products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)—the British equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—issued four emergency recalls notices after a wholesaler spotted packaging discrepancies in several drugs imported from other European countries.
[...]Police task force to crack down on counterfeit drugs [[Phnom Penh, Vietnam]]
A NEW Ministry of Health task force plans to launch a crackdown next month on pharmacies selling counterfeit over-the-counter drugs. The task force, composed of police officers and called the Police of Justice for the Ministry of Health, will operate in all of the Kingdom's 24 provinces and municipalities, Chou Yinsim, a secretary of state…
[...]F.D.A. Finds ‘Natural’ Diet Pills Laced With Drugs
Grady Jackson, a defensive tackle with the Atlanta Falcons, said he used the weight-loss capsules. Kathie Lee Gifford was enthusiastic about them on the “Today” show. Retailers like GNC and the Vitamin Shoppe sold them, no prescription required. But the Food and Drug Administration now says those weight-loss capsules, called StarCaps and promoted as natural…
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