Search
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.
Read MoreWebsites subjected to IP hijacking. This week, its medicine, the arts, & DIY! July 16, 2012 Curiosity about the true state of web search redirection and IP hacking in the wild, wild west of the Internet drove us to set up a weekly search via Google for online pharmacies. The news notifications always finish up with a list of shady…
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreOnline pharmacies have been implicated in several recent criminal cases, from accusations of wire and mail fraud, to distribution of counterfeit medications for cancer, ADHD and pain.
Experts at The Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, a non-profit for the purpose of protecting patient safety globally and ensuring patient access to safe and legitimate online pharmacies warn that this may only be the tip of the iceberg.
Learn more at the 2012 Interchange on September 28, 2012 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.
Read MoreCBS News Report July 3, 2012 “U.S. doctors buying unapproved drugs”
Read MoreOn 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 to: Share information on the…
Read MoreA federal jury convicted Luis Angel Garcia Torres, 41, of Puerto Rico on 12 counts related to trafficking in counterfeit medicine, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, on June 14, 2012.
Garcia Torres used the internet to purchase the medication, provided advice to the counterfeit manufacturers in China on avoiding detection by US law enforcement, and then sold the fake drugs to undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Houston, TX.
Read MoreIn March, Abbot Pharmaceuticals reported that two instances of counterfeit Vicodin ES had been found, having been purchased on the internet. Vicodin ES is a combination of hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen, used to relieve moderate to severe pain. It is a Schedule III drug, which requires a prescription to be dispensed, and is deemed to cause moderate or low physical…
Read MoreThe National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to own and operate the new .PHARMACY generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD). NABP has announced it has applied for the generic Too-Level Domain .PHARMACY as a "community-based application representing legitimate online pharmacies and prescription drug-related organizations worldwide in order to ensure that…
Read MoreH.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 sets the same penalties for…
Read More