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.
In this editorial, which appeared in the Austin American-Statesman on April 27, 2018, Georgia resident Lisa Hicks warns readers about the counterfeit prescription pills that killed her son in 2015:
“One needn’t be an addict to die from an overdose..Joe had a solid job and was studying for a degree in exercise science…One day, he pulled a muscle at the gym. He was in serious pain, so he bought what he thought were prescription painkillers from a friend. Those pills turned out to be counterfeit. And they contained a deadly amount of fentanyl. The next day, my son was gone.”
The DOJ announced that two men were indicted in federal court on drugs charges. Included in the items seized during the execution of the search warrant on November 30, 2017 were dozens of fentanyl pills…
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized a total of 1,1,32 pounds of fentanyl at U.S. borders in all of fiscal 2017. In the first half of fiscal year 2018, they have already seized over 1,000 pounds of fentanyl, leaving a DEA agent in San Diego concerned about counterfeit fentanyl pills…
The U.S. DOJ received a permanent injunction against MyNicNaxs, a company based in Deltona, Florida, for the sale and distribution of unapproved and misbranded new drugs. Despite receiving a warning letter in 2013, the company continued to sell dietary supplements that contained undisclosed pharmaceutical ingredients…
The DOJ announced that John and Plabpleung Hayes of New Hampshire received their prison sentences for their roles in a conspiracy that imported and sold over 2 million misbranded prescription pills from India and sold them to customers across the United States…
Choosing generic drugs is the easiest and fastest way for Americans to lower their prescription drug costs without having to risk purchasing your medication from a shady online pharmacy. We did a price comparison to see where losartan, the generic version of Cozaar, is more affordable – in the U.S. or in Canada. At a brick-and-mortar pharmacy in Canada, a 30-day supply would cost $14.31, but we found the same pills at pharmacies in the U.S. for $6.60…
Importing drugs from Canada sounds as if it would solve the issue of high prescription drug costs in the U.S., but that’s just a good soundbite. The truth is that the drugs Americans buy online “from Canada” are not actually Canadian and they have not been inspected by any regulatory authority…
FDA Inspectors working at the U.S.’s nine international mail facilities work hard to keep counterfeit and substandard drugs from being shipped into the country. The FDA is asking Congress to change the rules to make it easier for them to seize and destroy shipments of fake drugs…
The Department of Justice (DOJ) for the Southern District of Ohio has brought money-laundering and fentanyl distribution charges against 12 people in Cincinnati. Additionally, 40 people in San Diego, California have been charged, along with others in Columbus, Ohio, the Eastern District of Kentucky, the District of Kansas and the Eastern District of Washington. Among those charged in California is Jose Lopez-Albarran, who they describe as a known money-laundering agent for the Sinaloa Cartel. The DOJ alleges “he and other members of the Cartel allegedly laundered tens of millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds from the United States to Mexico between 2015 and 2018. Through the investigation in California, law enforcement discovered multiple drug-trafficking cells throughout the United States.”
Arrest of pair in Tennessee brings down a counterfeit pill mill that produced and shipped fake Xanax to customers across the U.S. Authorities found 58,000 fake pills and enough powder to make an additional 200,000 more while searching two properties…
The Partnership for Safe Medicines released the following press release after the official acceptance of the plea deal for Kris Thorkelson and CanadaDrugs.com…
The U.S. DOJ announced that Nikhil Buhecha, a Canadian pharmacist, received a 36-month sentence for owning and operating a sophisticated drug whole operation that sold counterfeit Botox to doctors all across the United States…
On April 10, The Partnership for Safe Medicines sponsored a congressional briefing focused on the illicit fentanyl trade and the widespread impact it is having on communities across the United States. PSM released 43 States and Counting, a update to last September’s report on fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills in the U.S. Click here to watch a video of the event.
A federal jury convicted three people for their roles in a conspiracy to manufacture and sell counterfeit Percocet pills in Murfreesboro, TN. Those pills were linked to one death and 20 poisons…
A new report released April 10, 2018 by The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) illustrates the growing deadly toll that illegally-imported fentanyl is having on communities throughout the U.S. PSM’s analysis confirms reports of counterfeit medicines made with fentanyl in 43 states, with fentanyl-related deaths confirmed in 22 states. The updated findings follow a report released by PSM last September that found a presence of counterfeit fentanyl in 40 states and related deaths in 16 states.
This event is going to be popular – register to secure your seat. Priority will be given to registered congressional staff. Former DEA Agents Who Inspired Netflix Series “Narcos” Join Policymakers to Discuss Latest Threats Posed By Illegally-Imported Fentanyl House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon), Members of Congress, Law Enforcement Experts, Industry Leaders…
Charges have been filed in a New York City court against six members, including the ringleader, of a major fentanyl smuggling ring. Police say this group brought enough fentanyl into the area to make 10 million fatal doses…
A prescription drug clawback is when the patient pays more than the cost of the drug and that extra money goes into the pockets of an insurance company and pharmacy benefits manager. This is why asking your pharmacist what the cash price would be for your prescription is one of way PSM says consumers may be able to quickly and safely lower their prescription costs…
An East Liverpool man, Justin Buckel, has been sentenced to six-and-a-half-years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to drug trafficking, including assault on a police officer. In May 2017, Police Officer Chris Green was exposed to fentanyl in East Liverpool , Ohio after searching Buckel’s care after a traffic stop. Bucknel’s arrest was part of a larger Ohio fentanyl bust, in which over 100 people were arrested.
According to their indictment, Sanchez “Chez” Lackland and Jermol “Yak” Mixon face counts of fentanyl importation and distribution, as well as weapons charges. Their indictment also identifies the fentanyl analogue as methoxyacetyl fentanyl, and notes that the accused allegedly made repeated purchases of the drug from Chinese sources.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that a Massachusetts couple who were part of a counterfeit steroid ring received their sentences. Tyler Bauman will spend 10 years in prison and Kathryn Green will spend one year and one day…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that 44-year-old Mumbai Ramesh Buchirajam Akkela will spend 33 months in jail for shipping thousands of misbranded pills to customers around the U.S. without requiring a valid prescription…
The two confidential informants in the case against a Vero Beach doctor who was manufacturing counterfeit oxycodone pills have been named and charged in court. Kevan Slater and Zachary Stewart each face multiple counts in recently released superseding indictment…
Information provided by the Montgomery County RANGE Task Force in Ohio tipped off postal inspectors to a suspect thought to be purchasing narcotics online. One seized package heading to that person contained 1,500 counterfeit oxycodone pills made with fentanyl…
Kris Thorkelson, the CEO of CanadaDrugs.com, has a pending plea deal to settle all charges against him. The Partnership for Safe Medicines is gravely concerned that this deal does not do enough to act as a deterrent either to Thorkelson himself or to anyone else who may be contemplating such a scheme…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a 28-count indictment against four people in Puerto Rico for allegedly selling counterfeit and misbranded drugs on various online marketplaces for years…
The FDA lays out exactly what kind of claims fraudulent flu treatments make. They also point out that there are no FDA-approved over-the-counter (OTC) flu treatments available, though there are OTC treatments that can help reduce fever or muscle aches.
A man in California sold counterfeit pills containing fentanyl to the Marine corporal who died after taking them. Kyle Shephard has been charged with murder. A complaint filed in the court says he sold approximately 2,000 of the counterfeit pills…
New data released by the CDC shows that on average there was a 30% increase in opioid-related overdose emergency room visits across the country. The Midwest was hit particularly hard with visits increasing there by 70%…
Kyle James Hebert, a horse veterinarian from Lake Charles, Louisiana has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for illegally treating racehorses with a banned and misbranded performance enhancing drug.
Police in Northfield, Minnesota warn of counterfeit oxycodone pills made with carfentanil in their city. These pills already caused at least three non-fatal poisonings…
Ohio resident Alexander Henize faces 16 counts after a search of the home he shared with his girlfriend and their 2-year-old daughter turned up an industrial pill press and 11 pounds of fentanyl…
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb recently toured the International Mail Facility at JFK Airport with members of Congress so they could see firsthand what the FDA is attempting to sort through to keep dangerous opioids out of the country and why they need a staffing increase…
The Mexican Federal Police recently stopped a vehicle enroute to California carrying over 100 pounds of fentanyl.
Other countries, even advanced countries like Canada, don’t provide the same level of protection. From April 2016 to March 2017, Canadian agents discovered more than 5,500 packages of counterfeit drugs in their midst. Loosening importation restrictions would expose American patients to potentially deadly counterfeit pills.
A Phoenix area man has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for transporting thousands of fentanyl-laced pills into Arizona.
Netflix DEA NARCOS agents Javier Pena (DEA Special Agent (Ret.) and Steve Murphy (DEA Special Agent (Ret.) describe the growing nexus between illicit drug traffickers and counterfeit medicines.
Short updates on two major fentanyl counterfeit pill ring cases. One case in Texas looks to have one of the fourteen defendants taking a plea while the second case in Utah sees a jury trial date set for Aaron Shamo, the alleged drug ring leader that shipped counterfeit pills containing fentanyl all across the U.S…
Most people in the U.S. live in states where their pharmacists are barred from letting them know that they could save money by paying cash instead of their insurance’s co-payment. Federal and state legislators are looking to change that…
U.S. Department of Justice announced two new cases. One is against a PA couple for manufacturing and selling counterfeit prescription pills made with heroin. The second case is against an OH couple charged with running a drug ring that imported and sold fentanyl and carfentanil in the Akron area…
Massachusetts man sentenced to two years in prison for his role in a scheme to import and distribute misbranded and counterfeit drugs. Harry Aliengena acted as a middleman, received shipments of fake drugs, and sent them onto customer across the U.S…
Articles about counterfeit Xanax are coming in from all across the United States. PSM has taken a quick look at four recent stories out of North Carolina, Massachusetts, Texas, and California…
The trio of residents from Chipley, Florida that had plead guilty to counterfeit drug and illicit steroid charges have been sentenced, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reports.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation issued a public safety alert on February 11, 2018 about the high volume of counterfeit pills made with fentanyl and other illicit opioids that have been found in Metro Atlanta. Since January 2015, there have been 450 reports of counterfeit pills. The most commonly counterfeited pills were Xanax and oxycodone that contained substances such as fentanyl, furanyl fentanyl, and U-47700.
NY Oncologist Vincent Koh and his office manager wife Mimi agree to pay $500,000 administering illegally purchased and misbranded drugs on their Medicare cancer patients…
This is a reprint of an FDA Alert. When a company announces a recall, market withdrawal, or safety alert, the FDA posts the company’s announcement as a public service. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company. For Immediate Release February 22, 2018 Contact Consumers Bella all Natural cabral_daisy@yahoo.com (323)552-6263 Bella All Natural…
Petty is the third musician and entertainer in the last 2 years that has died as a result of counterfeit drugs containing fentanyl. Pop star Prince, and young rapper Lil Peep both had illicit fentanyl found in their systems when they died.
Years after the appearance of counterfeit Avastin and other drugs in over 500 medical practices in 49 states kicked off an investigation, pending guilty pleas from CanadaDrugs.com, the CEO and two subsidiaries may bring some closure to the victims who were treated with the fake drugs and their families…
Yvonne Clark lost her 21-year-old son to fentanyl poisoning, and now she is trying to help other parents by educating about what an incredible danger fentanyl can be to their children.
This international news update includes two counterfeit drugs stories out of Canada and one from Switzerland that PSM wants to make sure you hear about…
You can save safely by purchasing your prescription drugs online, but you have to be smart about it. We made a list of the most important things to look out for to ensure your purchase does not end up costing you more than you saved…
Major police investigation brings down a drug ring taking deadly fentanyl to the streets of Massachusetts. Police seized enough fentanyl to cause at least 4.5 million fatal overdoses…
A second record-breaking fentanyl bust in New Hanover County, North Carolina in less than a week brought the total fentanyl seized to almost 2,600 grams. That would be enough to kill every man, woman, and child in the county multiple times…
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has just released their Internet Drug Outlet Identification Program Progress Report for February 2018. NABP has conducted an annual survey of Internet drug outlets for the last nine years, and this year it is finding that fake online pharmacies are rushing to get on the fentanyl bandwagon.
Counterfeit medicines are a global threat. A new report documents the instances and consequences of counterfeit medicines showing up in Canada to date and the continuing threat they pose to her citizens…
New Jersey sentenced the two men behind the largest fentanyl bust in the state’s history to jail time. Police found a total of 45 kilograms of fentanyl which could have killed 18 million people…
Rachel Blado of TN tragically lost her son Josh after he purchased what he thought was Xanax online. It turned out to be counterfeit and contained fentanyl. One pill took him from her forever and now she wants to warn everyone of the dangers of counterfeit medicines…
DEA raided multiple addresses in Utah and two other states to bring down the second major fentanyl pill mill operation based out of Utah in just 14 months. This group manufactured and sold counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax made with fentanyl…
In schools around the country, concerns are growing over the threat that counterfeit pills being sold in their hallways presents to the students…
Law enforcement agencies around the country, including the Oregon State Police, are limiting when they will perform roadside drug tests. They feel the potential for officers to be accidentally exposed to fentanyl is too great…
Fimea, Finland’s pharmaceutical watchdog group, ordered hospitals to stop administering a cancer medication over concerns that the medication is counterfeit or diverted…
A group of health professionals in Canada has come up with a unique way to educate the public about the dangers of fentanyl. They created Doctors Against Tragedies, a board game inspired by Cards Against Humanity…
Starting in 2011, Google could only promote sponsored advertisements for NABP-registered pharmacies, but how effective was this change in steering people away from rogue internet pharmacies. A new study looks into how successful they were…
Tramadol is given as a pain medication in India, but it has a high potential for abuse, and in some countries, tramadol deaths outnumber deaths from heroin. It is also completely unregulated in India, and is not on the World Health Organization (WHO) list of scheduled drugs or controlled substance list, which would force countries to regulate it.
The Partnership for Safe Medicines today issued the following statement regarding a new Senate report that highlights the direct harm posed by illegally-imported fentanyl from China…
U.S. Department of Justice announced an indictment against Dr. Johnny C. Benjamin, Jr. of Vero Beach, Florida. He is alleged to have manufactured and sold counterfeit pills made with fentanyl that he purchased online. Authorities know of at least one death attributed to the pills he made…
The INTERDICT Act was recently signed into law, giving the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol $9 million to use for investing in chemical screening technology and additional personnel in their fight to keep fentanyl and illicit opioids out of the country…
Captain Henry King of the Rocky Mount Police Police Department in North Carolina received a Certificate of Exemplary Service for his work to bring down a drug counterfeiter…
Tucker Collins of Grand Forks, ND received a sentence of 65 months in jail for his role in a fentanyl pill distribution ring that sold counterfeit pills in North Dakota and parts of Minnesota. Police know of at least one overdose caused by the pills this group sold…
The opioid and fentanyl crisis shows no signs of slowing down. With stories coming in from all over the U.S., here is a summary of five stories – including arrests, a plea deal, and proposed legislation – that PSM wants to make sure you know about…
After receiving a tip in November 2017, police search the home that Diane D’Anca was operating an illegal med spa out of. Inside, police found a “large amount” of medical supplies and records for 100 clients. In a refrigerator in the garage, they found several vials of Botox she injected into clients that turned out to be counterfeit…
Andrew Tablack and Stephan Durham were running a “pill production facility” in California that could produce thousands of counterfeit pills. A break in the case came when New Jersey authorities seized a massive 44 pound shipment of pills in Monmouth County.
If you are looking to lower your prescription drug costs, know that you have safer options than giving your money, and maybe your health, to a shady online website that claims it is a pharmacy or some random person on the street…
In late November, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a landmark report on the global counterfeit drug epidemic. Unfortunately, the WHO glossed over a major cause of the crisis — instability in the European Union’s drug supply chain — and actually gave the European Union cover by applauding its deeply flawed approach to combating counterfeit drugs. We need a better strategy to win the war on counterfeit drugs.
Yakima, Washington Police Department issues public warning after a bad batch of counterfeit Xanax being sold on the street caused an uptick in overdoses. Police were unsure what was in the pills, but they did know they were not real Xanax and told people to stay away from them…
Alain Lamontagne pleaded guilty in federal court to selling misbranded equine drugs that contained a Schedule III steroid not listed on the label. Lamontagne ran into problems with the law under very similar circumstances in 2011 in his native Canada…
Many government agencies are working to keep fentanyl from killing Americans. U.S. Postal Inspectors have found themselves on the front line working to keep fentanyl out of the country. The DOJ is working to bring justice to those who break our laws and the State Department is in negotiations to help stem the flow of illicit opioids into the country…
According to retired Phoenix Police Commander Tim Hampton, who wrote this editorial in White Mountain Independent on December 15, 2017, legalizing drug importation will help “criminal organizations . . . exploit weaknesses in the law to traffic narcotics,” and increase the flow of counterfeit pills cut with fentanyl into the country: “The drug importation bill would weaken America’s anti-drug defenses and endanger thousands of innocent lives — here in Arizona and throughout the nation.”
IL resident Skyler Dean Prahl pleaded guilty to introducing a misbranded drug into commerce. Prahl used a pharmaceutical powdered purchased from overseas to make Tramadol pills, which he sold online to customers around the U.S…
Couple with no medical training, who repeatedly smuggled counterfeit cosmetic injectables into the U.S. and used them on their clients, received sentences for their crimes. Unfortunately, two of their clients have been left with permanent nerve damage…
Trial initiated by an FDA-OCI investigation into a call center in India selling counterfeit and misbranded drugs to Americans ends with sentencing for the two defendants…
U.S. DOJ received guilty pleas from oncologist and wife who ordered misbranded cancer drugs from QSP, a CanadaDrugs.com wholesaler, 65 times over the course of 21 months while never informing their patients…
People think all prescription drugs cost less in Canada, but is that true? We did a price comparison for simvastatin, generic Zocor, the seventh most frequently prescribed prescription drug in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2016. When we called a brick-and-mortar pharmacy in Canada, we were quoted the price of $12.14 for a 30-day supply, but we found those same pills at pharmacies in the U.S. for only $4.54…
Created in 2013 by WHO, the Global Surveillance and Monitoring System tracks all reports of substandard or counterfeit medicines around the world. To date, 1,500 reports have been filed and a recent analysis showed that over 10% of medicines in low- to middle-income countries are substandard or fake…
The CDC released a report analyzing 5,152 overdose deaths in ten states over a six month period and found fentanyl was involved in 56% of the time…
After years of looking the other way, FDA-OCI conducted raids on several Florida storefronts that facilitate individuals purchasing prescription drugs from online pharmacies, reminding the owners that they could face a fine or jail time for doing so…
The U.S. Department of Justice received guilty pleas from three individuals charged with being part of a conspiracy to import, manufacture, and sell counterfeit medicines online to customers around the U.S…
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…
Ramiro Navarro Quesada, who was indicted in 2015, and extradited to the United States in August has pleaded guilty to charges he was running fake online pharmacies, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
Washington state naturopathy Rick Marschall was convicted in 2011 for illegally prescribing misbranded drugs to his patients. Sentenced to probation, he kept prescribing causing the state to suspend his license in 2013. He continued to practice medicine without a license and just received a jail sentence for prescribing the same misbranded drugs to his patients…
The recent indictment of six Canadians demonstrates the role Canada played as part of a larger international fentanyl smuggling ring that shipped fentanyl compounds to the United States.
Counterfeit pills made with fentanyl have flooded the streets of America. No one know how many people have been hurt or killed, but law enforcement and medical communities are gravely concerned…
In October, a woman in Rock Hill, South Carolina received a package from Walmart that she assumed was a yoga mat she had ordered. Instead, the package contained over 20,000 oxycodone pills.
Wayne Winegarden and Nouran Ghana’s editorial was published in Inside Sources on November 15, 2017. In it, they take a hard look at the supposed “price savings” of drug importation and find that the promises do not live up to what would happen. They believe that Americans deserve a better solution than plundering the drug supply of a neighboring country…
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb spoke with FDA-OCI agents about the importance of their work and how the agency is increasing staff at International Mail Facilities and ports of entry to help identify and keep fake drugs and illicit opioids out of the country…
The DEA knows that drug traffickers use industrial pill press machines to make counterfeit medicines. Now the House Energy & Commerce Committee is asking for information on which companies are selling these machines and who is buying them in the U.S…
Starting in 2012, the Generic Drug User Fee Amendments helped increase the number of generic drug applications approved by the FDA. Having recently been reauthorized, the FDA looks forward to increasing the number of safe and affordable generic drugs available to American citizens…
This is a reprint of an FDA Alert. [Posted 11/14/2017] AUDIENCE: Patient, Plastic Surgery, Dermatology, Surgery ISSUE: The FDA is alerting the public and health care providers that injectable silicone is not approved to enhance or augment the body. Such use can lead to ongoing pain, infections, and serious injuries, such as scarring and permanent…
The DOJ and DEA has removed any advantage that illegal chemists who create fentanyl analogues have. Anyone caught trafficking any fentanyl analogue can now be charged as if they were trafficking fentanyl itself…
November 14th is World Diabetes Day. Over 100 million American adults have been diagnosed as suffering from diabetes or have prediabetes. Remember to purchase your medications and diabetes supplies only from U.S. licensed pharmacies in order to avoid counterfeit insulin pens and test strips…