In the global fight to combat counterfeit drug crime, simple SMS technology is leading the charge for patient safety. 

A simple and low-cost solution to drug verification problems for patients, SMS text verification empowers consumers to protect themselves from counterfeit drugs by sending a numeric code from their drug packaging from their phone for free verification.  We’ll be discussing this and other technological innovations in the counterfeit drug fight at the 2012 Interchange on September 28, 2012.

The MHRA has announced that three men have been sentenced to 89 weeks imprisonment for laundering $400,000 generated by a fake online pharmacy selling counterfeit medicines.

The men were prosecuted as part of a wider investigation.  From 2004 to 2009 they were laundering profits from a criminal online pharmacy website based in Cyprus.  Says the MHRA, “The business was run by a UK criminal who set up a number of illegal online pharmacy businesses selling counterfeit and powerful prescription-only medicines from outside of the UK.”

The MHRA has been on a tear of prosecutions against illegal online pharmacies and counterfeit medicine and medical device sellers.  In early 2012, the MHRA let FDA agents know they suspected counterfeit cancer medications were being passed into the U.S.  They also prosecuted UK-based counterfeit drug distributor Peter Gillespie in 2011, who was working closely with Kevin Xu, convicted in the US for manufacturing and distributing counterfeit medications in 2010.

MHRA Director of Inspection, Enforcement and Standards, Gerald Heddell, will be speaking at the 2012 Interchange on September 28.  The Interchange, at the National Press Club, in Washington, DC, is a full day conference of policymakers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, patient advocates, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and anti-counterfeiting companies discussing the safety, health, and legal issues of counterfeit medications. Learn about the most recent criminal cases involving the MHRA and others at the 2012 Interchange.

MHRA agents made test purchases of counterfeit medicines to establish a link to the criminal enterprise, and then financial investigators traced over $1.5 million in three years from the websites’ UK bank account to a bank account in Cyprus. 

The impact that online counterfeit drug sales have on patients’ health is real, remarked Nimo Ahmed, Acting Head of Enforcement at MHRA. 

“This case highlights the criminality of the people who continue to put profit before patient’s health. These illegal pharmacy websites selling medicines bought from illegitimate sources pose a real threat to people’s health because they simply don’t know what they are getting.”

However, not all internet pharmacies are specious.  Online pharmacies that have the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Seal (VIPPS) are safe sources for the convenience and cost savings of online shopping, without the risks of potential counterfeit medications.

On September 10th, 2012, the India Office of the Partnership for Safe Medicines is organizing a Patient Safety and Drug Detection Technology Workshop in New Delhi, India.  Working with the Government of India, the workshop builds upon a September 2011 APEC Drug Safety and Detection Technology seminar held in Beijing.   The workshop’s objectives are…

H.R. 3668, the Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act, was approved by the House of Representatives on June 18, 2012.  Sponsored by Representatives Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), Tom Marino (R-Pa.), and Linda T. Sánchez (D-Calif.), the House bill has stiffer penalties for drug counterfeiters than the Senate approved version. Reports Bloomberg BNA, the House version of the bill…

FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg seeks stronger penalties to fight counterfeit drug trafficking, saying, “We need legal authorities to give teeth to our action. We are increasingly concerned that this is becoming an attractive area for bad guys, including organized crime,” reported The Financial Times. Dr. Hamburg told the Financial Times that current penalties for…