PSM Went to Congress to Share Our Concerns About The Threat of Counterfeit Medicine

On Thursday, January 31, 2018, the Partnership for Safe Medicines held two briefings in Washington, D.C. to inform members of Congress and their staff about the dangers posed to Americans by counterfeit medicines. The events each had three panels and looked at how fake medicines have affected individuals and law enforcement, and also at the roles played by international bad actors and drug cartels…

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Drug Importation and the Deadly Challenge of Screening 275 Million Packages a Year

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in their report U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the International Mail Facilities (IMFs), describes the daunting job that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faces when attempting to weed out counterfeit medications and packages containing illicit fentanyl. In 2017, IMFs received 275 million packages. Of these, 10,000 were screened by CBP, and of those 86% contained drugs. The investigation of a suspect package is incredibly time-consuming; an experienced FDA investigator might take as long as 20 minutes to process a package containing just on product.

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Importation Has Some Huge Risks

There are certainly things we can learn from other countries’ healthcare successes, but importation is not the right approach.

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Drug Importation is Fraught with Peril

As a licensed pharmacist, I’m all too familiar with patients’ difficulties getting medications they need and their physician has prescribed. As baby boomers age, pharmacists see more patients at our counters unable to obtain needed treatments for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. This issue is now being acknowledged and a healthy debate has begun over possible solutions. But one idea policymakers shouldn’t pursue is opening up our country’s secure drug supply to medicines coming from outside our borders.

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Guest View: Drugs from foreign supply chains threaten Illinois patients’ safety

John Redmond is a former FDA official. He has more than 28 years of federal law enforcement experience, ending his law enforcement career as the Special Agent in Charge of FDA’s Chicago Field Office. In this op-ed in The State Journal-Register, he warns that drug importation will expose Americans to dangerous counterfeit medicines and illegal drugs…

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