News Coverage
The Partnership for Safe Medicines has been publishing information about the counterfeit drug problem around the world for more than a decade. With experts leading the organization and a committed and passionate set of writers and editors, our content is more in-depth than many other sources, which simply copy links to the news from other websites.
This is a reprint of an FDA Alert. Recall: Firm Press Release FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company. For Immediate Release December 9, 2015…
This is a reprint of an FDA Alert. FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company. Recall: Firm Press Release For Immediate Release …
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, who has made significant contributions to state-based efforts to protect Americans from counterfeit products, offered an attorney general’s perspective on working collaboratively with Federal agencies to fight counterfeit medicines.
This is a reprint of an FDA Alert. FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company. December 3, 2015 Contact Consumers Julio Tapia (718) 415-2611…
Dr. Shepherd was interviewed on a local Austin radio station and described for listeners the realities of the counterfeit medication economy, and the dangers U.S. citizens face from imported medication. After William Scully, owner of the unlicensed pharmaceutical importer Medical Device King/Pharmalogical, was convicted on charges relating to his drug importation business, Bill Swail, host…
During PSM’s 2014 Interchange, Howard Sklamberg, the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Global Regulatory Operations and Policy gave an overview of the FDA’s work in protecting the safe drug supply chain and of legislation enacted in 2012 and 2013.
Recently, conversations and debate about drug importation has reached a fever pitch. Partnership For Safe Medicines’ many coalition members want Congress to know about our concerns for the safety of American patients. The secure American drug supply chain protects American consumers from dangerous counterfeit, substandard and unsafe medicines. Any effort designed to bypass FDA controls…
As a coalition whose outreach and operations involve educating health care workers and patients in all fifty states, and whose membership is comprised of more than 60 organizations committed to the safety of prescription drugs and protecting U.S. consumers against counterfeit, substandard or otherwise unsafe medicines, we are deeply concerned that importation proposals will undermine America’s existing and proposed drug safety protocols.
Hear Senior Science Advisor Eric Sampson talk about the CDC Foundation’s plans to study the impact of counterfeit drugs and educate the public health community about the black market.
Update: On December 13, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated William Scully’s conviction because a lower court “declined to allow Scully to introduce evidence at his 2015 trial showing he sought legal advice about importing drugs with foreign labels from one of his lawyers.” Ultimately Scully pleaded guilty to one charge of…
At the 2014 Interchange, New spoke about the risk that drug diversion poses to patients who may be treated with painkillers that have been contaminated by addicts, and about the scale of drug diversion in hospitals in the United States.
Ever wonder about what’s behind the news for counterfeit drug crime? The Rogues Gallery Comic Book Series tells the real-life stories of fake drug criminals and their cases.
The Partnership for Safe Medicines released the following statement regarding the verdict of William Scully for operating an illegitimate drug supply company called Pharmalogical Inc., which conducts business as Medical Device King. The defendant sold more than $14 million worth of illegal products including misbranded cancer medicine, unapproved birth control devices, and other medical products…
Update: On December 13, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated William Scully’s conviction because a lower court “declined to allow Scully to introduce evidence at his 2015 trial showing he sought legal advice about importing drugs with foreign labels from one of his lawyers.” Ultimately Scully pleaded guilty to one charge of…
This is a reprint of an FDA Alert. FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company. For Immediate Release November 9, 2015 Contact Consumers …
“Canadadrugs.com and their co-conspirators are charged with shipping $78 million of counterfeit and unapproved medicines to unsuspecting patients across the United States,” said Thomas Kubic, PSM board member and former FBI Deputy Assistant Director who spent 30 years at our nation’s top law enforcement agency. “Yet to this day and since 2002, Canadadrugs.com has been listed as an “approved” and “safe” online pharmacy by a leading U.S. firm whose business model involves helping Americans unknowingly break the law and put their welfare at risk.
At PSM’s 2014 Interchange, Jim Dahl, a 30 year veteran of Federal law enforcement, spoke about the scale of the counterfeit drug problem in the United States and how much risk Americans should be willing to accept.
Between 2004 and 2009 a number of states experimented with drug importation from countries that supposedly had online pharmacies offering cheaper medications. Illinois was a leader in this area, spending significant state resources marketing and promoting the program while working with Ram Kamath, who later became Director of Pharmacy Policy and International Verifications at PharmacyChecker. The…
Prescription medication can be expensive, but there are safe systems in place to help Americans buy reliable medications at lower prices. Saving at the Doctor’s Office Lower cost medications can start at the doctor’s office. Generic medications are typically just as effective as their namebrand alternatives and they can save patients substantial money. If a…
By February of 2015 the law had been thrown out, but only after the President of the Maine Pharmacy Association experienced first hand what patients can be exposed to when buying drugs from a Canadian online pharmacy. On June 27, 2013, the Maine Legislature passed LD 171, the Act to Facilitate Personal Importation of Prescription…
Update: On December 13, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated William Scully’s conviction because a lower court “declined to allow Scully to introduce evidence at his 2015 trial showing he sought legal advice about importing drugs with foreign labels from one of his lawyers.” Ultimately Scully pleaded guilty to one charge of…
The Partnership for Safe Medicines released the following statement on the sentencing of Daniel Sanchez for his role in an illegal online counterfeit medicines scheme based in Pittsburgh and Houston: “Drug counterfeiters take advantage of our vulnerable citizens on a daily basis, and have grown globally into a multibillion dollar industry,” said PSM President Marv Shepherd. “This…
The FDA has been prosecuting doctors and unlicensed drug distributors for importing non-FDA approved cancer drugs. Some of those drugs have been counterfeits. Learn more about how to detect counterfeit medication by reading our 8-Step Checklist For Medicine Safety and about recent counterfeit cancer drug prosecutions by reading PSM’s Black Market Cancer Drug Cases, 2007-2013.
Aren’t Canadian medicines ordered online as safe as ours? Well, no. Buying medicines from online pharmacies that claim to be selling Canadian drugs is dangerous.
Ram Kamath has had a single charge of smuggling dropped and is now cooperating with the authorities. Kamath was one of 14 people charged in the case USA vs. CanadaDrugs. Kamath had been accused of participating in the international drug smuggling conspiracy allegedly perpetrated by CanadaDrugs.
Dr. Mohamad Ayman Ghraowi has filed suit against Canada Drugs subsidiaries Montana Healthcare Solutions and Rockeley Ventures, for supplying his practice with counterfeit cancer medication, the Courthouse News Service (CNS) reports.
A change to current laws allows the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to destroy misbranded medications blocked from entering the United States. Prior to this, the FDA was forced to return such drugs to the shipper.
A Missouri doctor was sentenced for misbranded drugs charges and his Patterson Medical Clinic was sentenced for false statements charges on September 2nd, 2015 related to the purchases of non-FDA approved osteoporosis treatments. Both the doctor and his clinic face 3 years probation.
Medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) comprehensive drug approval process are considered the safest in the world. The U.S.’s closed distribution system keeps medicine counterfeiters and fakers out of pharmacies and away from patients. Medicines in countries without the systemic oversight of an agency like the FDA suffer from pervasive counterfeit…
Michigan pharmacy owner and 18 of his employees face jail time for conspiracies that provided misbranded, returned, and out-of-date pharmaceuticals to nursing homes and adult foster care homes throughout the state.
A Canadian pharmaceutical company and their drop-shipper were fined $45 million, as well as forfeiting $30 million for smuggling Non-FDA approved medications into the U.S. 5 men from Canada and the United States have also pleaded guilty to a multi-year conspiracy to ship misbranded and non-FDA approved pharmaceuticals to U.S. Clinics and Doctors’ Offices.
Securing Industry reports that a new anti-counterfeiting product focused on consumers has been launched to help patients verify the authenticity of their medications. The product, Check My Meds, is a cell phone application that scans two dimensional barcodes on medicine packages to verify their origin in conjunction with new FDA policy. The U.S. Food and…
The CanadaDrugs indictment lists Narinder Kaulder as the head of operations for a U.K. drug wholesaler called River East Supplies, LTD. River East was a subsidiary through which CanadaDrugs conducted its sales. The indictment alleges that “in order to ensure that the illegal shipments of clinical drugs were allowed into the United States without increased scrutiny from the FDA and United States Customs, River East systematically falsified customs declarations that accompanied illegal drug shipments.”
Interchange 2014 was fortunate enough to have Madame LiHong Gu, director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines China join us and share her work. Madame Gu began her brief description of PSM China by pointing out that “China is another large country with 1.3 billion people. They all need safe medicines.” She told the conference…
The public service announcement from the Partnership for Safe Medicines Don’t Buy Drugs Made in a Dirty Lab! conjures images of the sort of filthy environs in which fake drugs are produced. PSM board member Tom Kubic notes “those online Canadian pharmacies don’t sell real drugs.” Find out more about what fake online pharmacies are…
The head of Partnership for Safe Medicines India shared with the conference what PSM India has done, and what its goals are. Bejon Misra, head of PSM India, took a few minutes to tell conference-goers about his organization. He pointed out that he was “here on behalf of 1.2 billion consumers, and more than 10,000…
Ram Kamath, who was listed as PharmacyChecker.com’s Director of Pharmacy Policy and International Verifications as of March 16, 2015, is one of eight people indicted by the US Justice Department for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to distribute $78 million worth of non FDA approved and counterfeit cancer medications into U.S. doctors’ offices.
Blast-faxes sent to doctors’ offices are the subject of the latest public service announcement from the Partnership for Safe Medicines In Have You Gotten a Blast Fax Offering Cheap Medication? PSM board member Dr. Marv Shepherd warns physicians to be wary of too-good-to-be-true medications prices in blast-fax offerings.
NBC news show examines the clandestine business of administering non-FDA approved beauty treatments. The new episode of American Greed, titled “Vanity and Greed: Deadly Beauty”, the NBC show looks at the story of two convicted practitioners of counterfeit beauty treatments. Mississippi resident Tracey Lynn Garner was found guilty of murder in the death of Karima…
The United States has been experiencing an uptick in the number of patients being treated with fake and misbranded injectable cosmetic treatments. Learn more about these cases, which are one of the most common ways Americans are exposed to dangerous counterfeit medications. In June 2014, Elva Navarro, a spa owner in McAllen, Texas, pleaded guilty…
While participating in an Interchange 2014 panel discussion on criminal prosecutions for drug counterfeiting and drug diversion, Jaime Peña, Assistant U.S. Attorney/Senior Litigation Chief, Criminal Division, Colorado District, U.S. Department of Justice, tells a disturbing story of hospital-based drug diversion. Panel 2 at Interchange 2014, was titled “Patient Safety and Criminal Prosecutions in the U.S.”…
The latest in public service announcements from Partnership for Safe Medicines tells the story of what happens to doctors who make the mistake of purchasing substandard medication. PSM board member Jim Dahl advises physicians Don’t Destroy Your Medical Practice with Fake Drugs.
The second panel of the day at Interchange 2014, titled “Patient Safety and Criminal Prosecutions in the U.S.” featured federal prosecutors who provided insights into their recent counterfeit and misbranded drug prosecutions. AUSA Lindsay Kelly told the Interchange 2014 audience how Gallant Pharma operated. “Their competitors were the other illegal companies. They [Gallant Pharma] were trying to distinguish themselves in that market by saying ‘we actually have offices here, we can give you everything overnight delivery,’ and they had a sales force that actually set out recruiting doctors as patients, just like the legitimate pharmaceutical companies.”
In another public service announcement from Partnership for Safe Medicines warns of the dangers lurking for sale at fake online pharmacy websites. In Super Cheap Canadian Pharmacy, PSM board member Tom Kubic of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute cautions against buying medication from “a Canadian online pharmacy with cheaper prices,”
The Partnership for Safe Medicines is pleased to announce that the organization has been honored with an Excellence Award for outstanding work in the area of nonprofit communications. The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts gave The Partnership for Safe Medicines the 2015 Communicator Award of Excellence in the category of nonprofit magazine publication.…
Fake Oxycontin pills actually made with fentanyl responsible for more than 50 deaths in Alberta since the beginning of the year. OpSecSecurity is reporting that Canada is experiencing a dramatic increase in deaths due to the sale and ingestion of counterfeit versions of the painkiller oxycontin. According to OpSecSecurity, there have been three recent deaths…
Operation Pangea VIII Takes Action Against More Than 1,000 Purveyors of Fake Drugs & Medical Devices
During The 8th annual International Internet Week of Action (IIWA) led by Interpol, the FDA along with law enforcement from across the globe acted to eliminate the sale of counterfeit medications and medical devices on the Internet. As part of Operation Pangea, the FDA sent close to 400 warning letters to websites offering “unapproved or…
Since 2006, at least 86 individuals have been charged with the distribution of black market HIV/AIDS medications to American pharmacies, secondary wholesale distributors and patients. In the face of this threat, patients need the tools to identify questionable medicine and to seek better prices safely.
As we honor fathers all over the United States this Father’s Day, take a few minutes to understand the unique dangers men face from counterfeit medications. A quick glance at the National Crime Prevention Association page on counterfeit drugs will tell you that medications for high cholesterol, hypertension, antibiotics, ED, cancer, and HIV/AIDS are…
The Partnership for Safe Medicines has created a series of public service announcements to educate both patients and medical professionals about the dangers posed by fake medications. In Doctors! Protect Your Practice from Fake Drugs, PSM board member Tom Kubic of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute points out that “the physician is the last word on everything in the office, including medication purchases.”
In 2013, the G8 recognized the counterfeit medicine trade as a significant problem in their countries. Read PSM’s infographic to learn about their reporting on the issue.
After five amazing years of the PSM Interchange, we are doing what all good organizations do, and taking a year off to reflect on where we spend our resources and how well we're fulfilling our mission. This could mean new opportunities in global markets and/or a redesign of the event in the U.S. Announcements about our next conference will…
The National Crime Prevention Council has released a guide about how to find a safe online pharmacy and protect yourself from products that may be contaminated, counterfeit or not approved by the FDA.
Linda Marks, Senior Litigation Counsel for the Consumer Protection Branch of the Department of Justice, moderated Interchange 2014’s panel on criminal prosecutions and the patient safety issues that result from misbranded medication. In her opening remarks, she described the work the Department of Justice has done to combat counterfeit and misbranded drugs.
Doctors, medical office managers, and others responsible for medication purchasing need to know about the FDA’s “Know Your Source” campaign. With the help of a few simple pieces of advice from the agency responsible for guaranteeing medication safety, you can make sure that the prescription drugs in your office are FDA-approved. By sticking with state-licensed wholesale medication distributors you can safeguard the health of your patients and protect your practice from liability as well.
At the 2014 Interchange, PSM was pleased to have Philip Walsky, the Acting Director of the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) speak about OCI’s efforts to respond to the challenge of fraudulent drug schemes.
In January 2015, George M. Karavetsos was appointed the new head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI). Previous to his appointment as Director of FDA-OCI, Mr. Karavetsos served as the executive assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Assistant General Counsel in the FDA’s Office of the…
Don’t let counterfeit medications compromise your health or the health of loved ones. Download “The Top 9 Health Risks Women Face From Counterfeit Medicine.”
Every healthcare professional who purchases medication is familiar with faxes from persistent direct sales companies that inundate the office with daily price lists. Regardless of the supplier, purchasing or using non-FDA-approved drug products exposes the physician to criminal and civil liability. The medication doesn’t even have to be counterfeit for the physician to suffer legal consequences.
A pharmacist operating an online pharmacy in Washington DC has been indicted on fake online pharmacy charges, according to a press release from the FDA. In addition, a Florida-based doctor, has been charged with fulfilling prescriptions for said pharmacy for over 38,000 U.S. residents. Titilayo (Tomi) Akintomide Akinyoyenu, also known as Tommy Akin, was arrested…
The Canadian Department of Justice, along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have raided Kris Thorkleson’s Canada Drugs.com headquarters in Manitoba, the CBC reports. Speaking with the National Post, PSM Board member Jim Dahl expressed the opinion that the raids are a direct result of the ongoing investigation of counterfeit Avastin making it’s way…
Samantha Gompel, the Intellectual Property Rights Communications Manager at the World Customs Organization (WCO), described the WCO’s efforts to help its 179 members secure and protect supply chains throughout global trade.
When a drug counterfeiter makes fake medication, they do not go through dosage testing, quality control, or safety testing. The goal is to produce a product that looks like the real thing, with little concern for the actual ingredients. For this reason, all manner of toxic substances have made their way into counterfeit medication.
PSM board member Jim Dahl, the retired Assistant Director of the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, spoke on our international panel about the Medicrime Convention, a new cross-European effort to address criminal issues involving medical products.
With the explosive growth of global medication counterfeiting crime rings, it is essential for policy makers across all disciplines to familiarize themselves with the counterfeit drug problem in the United States.
At PSM’s 2014 Interchange Gillian Buckley shared the Institute of Medicine’s Board on Global Health’s recommendations on how to stop the flow of fake medicines by supporting regulatory authorities and drug manufacturers in low to middle income countries.
Patients are always seeking ways to save money on medications and if they’re not careful they can open themselves up to dishonest vendors selling fake drugs. Learn how to save money safely.
At last year’s Interchange, we were pleased to have Tom Kubic, PSM’s treasurer and the president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI), summarize trends in international drug counterfeiting activity and enforcement.
Learn how health care professionals can protect patients from counterfeit drugs by sourcing medicines safely.
Washington, D.C. (February 26, 2015) – Dr. Marv Shepherd, President of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, released the following statement after a federal judge overturned Maine’s dangerous prescription drug importation law: “The easiest way for dangerous and potentially deadly counterfeit medicines to infiltrate our secure supply chain is when they are purchased from illegal and unregulated overseas online…
Dr. Tim Mackey shared his American Cancer Society funded research with attendees at Interchange 2014. Titled After Avastin, What Have We Learned and What Can Be Done? Mackey’s research took a multidisciplinary approach to examining the data, using FDA warnings plus GIS and network analysis to try to draw conclusions as to what can be done to prevent another counterfeit Avastin-type incident in the United States.
A quick perusal of the Internet will turn up a vast array of websites claiming to offer pharmacy services. Yet only 3% of online pharmacies are legitimate. How do you decode a fake pharmacy website?
Dr. Marv Shepherd Explains the New USP Good Distribution Practices at Interchange 2014 At Partnership for Safe Medicines Interchange 2014 in Washington D.C. PSM Board member Dr. Marv Shepherd shared some of the details of the U.S. Pharmacopeia’s soon-to-be-released packaging and distribution updates to its National Formulary.
On behalf of the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM), we would like to thank Dr. Hamburg for her outstanding service to our country as the Commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the past six years.
In honor of American Heart Month, we’d like to remind you that ‘natural’ supplements are sometimes unregulated, and unless you verify the source as a safe one, may contain undeclared drugs that can damage your heart.
Since internet commerce ‘took off’ after the turn of the 21st century, black market medical distributors have profited off of American patients by selling them (and their medical practitioners) potentially dangerous counterfeit and misbranded drugs. One area where this problem continues to grow is in the importation of non-FDA approved IUDs.
By the end of 2015, online pharmacies that do business in the European Union will be able to display a logo that identifies them as a safe online pharmacy in compliance with all local regulations.
For 6 years the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has surveyed online drug sellers to investigate industry trends and has published their findings in their Internet Drug Outlet Identification Program Progress Report for State and Federal Regulators.
Dr. Mohamed Basel Aswad of Deming, New Mexico has admitted in court that he purchased misbranded and mislabeled cancer medication from a Canadian medication supplier. On November 4, 2014 Dr. Mohamed Basel Aswad pleaded guilty in an Albuquerque courtroom to misdemeanor charges that he introduced misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, the Department of Justice (DOJ)…
The former owner of a California hospital has pleaded guilty to participating in an illegal medical kickbacks conspiracy, and a medical equipment manufacturer has recalled of all of its spinal fusion hardware due to “performance failures that could cause patient harm.” The case is linked to more than two dozen lawsuits filed alleging that counterfeit…
Special Agent Burke shared cases such as grandmother Betty Hunter’s run-in with counterfeit cancer medication.
NAPB finds only 4% of online drug sellers meet United States safety standards: uncontrolled substances still readily available without a prescription online. For 6 years the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has surveyed online drug sellers to investigate industry trends and has published their findings in their Internet Drug Outlet Identification Program Progress…
New Scientist’s Curtis Abraham Extols Public Health Experts to Try Harder to Beat Fake Antimalarials
Author Curtis Abraham cites the latest results from the WorldWide Antimalarial Resist Network as motivation to improve malaria drug quality. Their most recent survey found that 30% of malaria drugs tested globally failed quality assurance tests. In an opinion piece for New Scientist, Curtis Abraham asks medical and disease professionals to work harder to stem…
FDA warns Natural Solutions Foundation that the products they offer for sale are not Ebola cures and are therefore “misbranded.” At present there is no practical cure for Ebola, though several different vaccines are in development. A company in New Jersey using Youtube, Facebook and other online means to advertise their offerings has been sent…
Download BlackMarketCancer_singlepage.pdf (881.4K) Ozkan Semizoglu earlier had pleaded guilty to charges that he and his company, Ozay Pharmaceuticals, shipped counterfeit versions of life-saving cancer medications into the United States. Ozay Pharmaceuticals was one of several sources for the fake cancer drugs that have plagued U.S. oncology clinics since 2012. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has…
Following earlier successful raids by the Ventura County Task Force, new investigations in Los Angeles County have turned up counterfeit and misbranded medications for sale at small stores and swap meets all over the LA. Basin. The Los Angeles Daily News reports that fake medication sellers working at stores and swap meets in Los Angeles…
Between 2005 and 2013, there was one death and 11 other patients who required medical attention for disfigurement or serious illness as the result of receiving fake or misbranded cosmetic injectables while at a doctor’s office, clinic, or salon. Black Market Cosmetic Injectables in the U.S. 2005-2013 attempts to describe the scope of the problem.
UC San Diego research team develops a system by which automated web crawling programs can identify spam-based sales websites and connect them to large affiliate networks. A 2014 paper by UC San Diego researchers Matthew Der, Lawrence K. Saul, Stefan Savage, and Geoffrey M. Voelker titled “Knock It Off: Profiling the Online Storefronts of Counterfeit…
Wisconsin pharmacist and former Wisconsin State Pharmacy Board member, Marla Ahlgrimm, and her alleged co-conspirator Balbir Bhogal are facing a renewed indictment from their 2010 counterfeit medication importation case. The pair are alleged to have imported more than 4 million fake pills into the United States to fill the orders for a Costa Rican online…
3 Texas residents are alleged to have received more than 30 shipments of fake medications and acted as drop-shippers for a drug counterfeiting operation run from China. Counterfeit versions of painkillers and lifestyle drugs were among the seized fakes. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the indictment of three Texans on counterfeit drug and…
Links between counterfeit medication production and organized crime illuminated as European authorities discover counterfeit medication producing equipment in a Europe-wide breakup of a child-trafficking ring. Over 1,000 arrested and 30 trafficked children freed as part of Operation Archimedes. Europol has just announced the largest ever cooperated international law enforcement operation that targeted organized crime specializing…
In an October 6th op-ed piece for The Hill, Partnership for Safe Medicines board member Jim Dahl described the growing threat that counterfeit drugs pose to U.S. patients, and asks Congress and the Federal Government to step up efforts to stop the spread of counterfeit drugs and fake online pharmacies. Jim Dahl, a retired Assistant…
Three Athens, Texas residents, Wanda Hollis, 63, Tom Giddens, 57, and Catherine Nix, 41 have been charged with one felony count of conspiracy to smuggle merchandise into the United States, seven counts of causing the introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead, seven counts of smuggling and one…
The World Customs Organization and the International Institute of Research Against Counterfeit Medicines joined forces in Africa to try and stem the tide of counterfeit drugs sweeping though African nations. With Operation Biyela 2 customs agents in 14 African countries have conducted seizures that paint a clearer picture of how counterfeit medication makes its way…
A new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association examines how suspicious prescriptions for HIV medications indicate that HIV drugs are being diverted for resale on the black market. The September 17th 2014 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that HIV medication is being purchased by devious means…
The FDA has a new flyer campaign that asks doctors, medical office managers, and others responsible for medication purchasing to ensure that they only buy FDA-approved medication. Only state-licensed wholesale distributors of medication can guarantee the safety of medication prescribed to patients. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is asking all medical professionals to verify…
Tennessee-based IT manager Nancy White began digging deeper into EBay medication sales practices after receiving a dangerous pharmaceutical product in lieu of the skin cream she had ordered. According to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, who spoke at the Partnership for Safe Medicine’s annual conference last week, there is a broad spectrum of illicit or…
Four members of the same Los Angeles area family have been indicted on counterfeit goods trafficking and mail fraud conspiracy charges for their sale of unapproved ED medications. Learn how drug counterfeiters are targeting Americans at Interchange 2014, September 18th in Washington D.C. Four members of the Gitmed family, John Gitmed, his ex-wife Holly, their…
Daniel Burke Special Agent at FDA-OCI tells Fierce Pharma about the FDA’s “Most Wanted” campaign. Effort highlights fugitives from justice for crimes ranging from posing as doctors to importing and distributing counterfeit medications. Come here Special Agent Daniel Burke speak September 18 in Washington D. C. at Interchange 2014. In a recent interview with Fierce…
Libby Baney of the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies and Gaurvika Nayyar of the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention will speak September 18 at Interchange 2014 in Washington D.C. The Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP) announced on August 21st that the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is joining forces with them to stem the tide of counterfeit…