A 61-year-old man from Birmingham, England, was recently sentenced to serve nine months in prison for selling unlicensed erectile dysfunction medication. Last year an investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) found that John Henry Atkinson was illegally selling potentially fake drugs. Atkinson was found to be in possession of two boxes…
Read MoreNigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has approved the use of the anti-counterfeiting technology radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in the fight against fake drugs. NAFDAC has plans to require all the pharmacies in the country to adopt the method once a sufficient portion of drugs are tagged, according to…
Read MoreRussia recently adopted new guidelines for the destruction of counterfeit drugs as well as for medications that are substandard. The new law, which was passed on September 3, will require that the destruction of all fake drugs be handled by organizations that are licensed for the collection, transportation and disposal of grade I-IV waste, according…
Read MoreIndia’s Commerce Ministry is planning to require all pharmaceutical exports to utilize barcode technology, according to PharmaBiz.com. The news source reports that the Commerce Secretary met with Pharmexcil, India’s pharmaceutical exports promotion council, and accepted its recommendation to employ the technology. Pharmexcil proposed three ideas at the meeting: barcoding, digital mass serialization (DMS)/unique number and…
Read MoreSeptember 14,2010 – Dan Rather reports on the Nigerian Drug Enforcement Agency, NAFDAC, and it’s attempts to protect Nigerian consumers from fake drugs in In The Mysterious Case Kevin Xu. The broadcast was shown September 14, at 8pm ET on HDNet. Dan Rather spoke to Paul Orhii, Director General of The National Agency for…
Read MoreSeptember 14, 2010 – In The Mysterious Case Kevin Xu Dan Rather investigates the fake prescription medication market and attempts of counterfeiters to infiltrate the US market. The broadcast was shown September 14, at 8pm ET on HDNet. Dan Rather spoke to Andre Watson, US special agent in charge of immigration and customs enforcement about…
Read MoreTwo technology companies have teamed up to produce an anti-counterfeiting technology that could help with the identification of fake drugs. One company produces a relatively inexpensive radio tag and the other makes an affordable reader, according to VentureBeat.com. The technology employed in these devices is radio frequency identification (RFID). The tag transmits a radio wave…
Read MoreAn $11,000 reward has been offered to help find the second suspect in a robbery and shooting that took place at a California pharmacy. Recently two men entered a Rexall pharmacy in North Highlands, California, and demanded the painkiller OxyContin at gunpoint, according to the Sacramento Bee. During the ensuing shootout between a pharmacy employee…
Read MoreLaw enforcement officers and pharmaceutical industry officials say that the theft of pharmaceuticals is on the rise across the United States, reports the Fresno Bee. The news source reports that while there are no official numbers of nationwide pharmaceutical thefts because of variety of reasons, federal drug authorities, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, state officials and local…
Read MoreThe theft of pharmaceuticals is leading to the creation of a black market for anti-malaria drugs in Africa, according to Willis Akhwale of the Kenyan Ministry of Health. Akhwale originally told the Wall Street Journal about the problem in 2005, but he says the problem remains five years later. Often times, government stores of badly-needed…
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