The U. S. Pharmacopeia (USP) is building a database of fake medications to support and share with regulators and non-governmental organizations targeted to launch in 2011. The database will provide regulators with the ability to monitor fake and substandard drug trends and better support enforcement actions. Patrick Lukulay, director of the Promoting the Quality of…
Read MoreEthiopia is training new staff and building capacity to better evaluate the safety of drugs within its country’s borders by using laboratory quality management systems and learning to test for authenticity. In order to ensure the quality of the country’s essential medicines, Promoting the Quality of Medicines, a USAID program, has been working with the…
Read MoreOn November 18, after a year-long law enforcement partnership between federal, state and local officials, approximately 30 federal search warrants were issued in Mississippi in search of counterfeit pharmaceuticals. A team of nearly 100 law enforcement agents participated in the operation, according to a press release from the Mississippi’s Attorney General’s Office. The operations involved…
Read MoreThe Chinese agency in charge of the fight against counterfeit drugs has announced a new initiative to crack down on the trafficking of illegal medications over the internet, according to the Global Times. The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) announced it new campaign at a press conference in Beijing. Wang Lifeng, the director of the…
Read MoreA Chinese citizen in the US was recently sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison in Texas for selling counterfeit drugs. United States Attorney José Angel Moreno recently announced that Kum Leung Chow, who was also known as Lawrence Chow, will be sent to federal prison for "conspiring to distribute counterfeit pharmaceuticals…
Read MoreIn a newly published report on antimalarial drug efficacy and resistance, The World Health Organization (WHO) raised the alarm about a new strain of artemisinin resistant malaria in South East Asia. Scientists believe that fake and substandard malarial medications are a major factor in the development of new drug-resistant strains of malaria. WHO’s containment plan will provide free medication and care for those affected in order to prevent them from relying on counterfeit and substandard malarial medications.
“Efforts have also been made to stop the sale of counterfeit and substandard drugs, which are a major factor in the development of resistance,” states the report.
Read MoreThis is a reprint of the FDA’s Alert. Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA), and other law enforcement officials, to recover cases of specified lots of recently stolen pharmaceutical products. The specified lots were being transported in a tractor-trailer stolen in Florence, Kentucky, on Interstate…
Read MoreA group of doctors, pharmacists, drug regulators and distributors, called Samahan Laban sa Pekeng Gamot (Samahan), are spreading the warning that ten percent of all medicines in the Philippines are fake. Dr. Maria Minerva Calimag, Samahan spokesman and chair of the Cosmetics Committee of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), said "Consumers unwittingly buy from…
Read MoreThe governor of a state in Nigeria has expressed his support for the country's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control's (NAFDAC) fight against counterfeit drugs. Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam said that counterfeit drugs are a major concern in the country, particularly in its rural areas, according to the Vanguard. Suswam expressed his…
Read MoreThe Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) has warned consumers of the growing market for counterfeit animal medications sold in online pharmacies. "Not only is this a risky practice as there is no guarantee you're going to get what you're paying for, you might also be breaking the law by buying these drugs online and importing them…
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