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Researchers Bryan Liang and Timothy Mackey from the California Western School of Law and the University of California, San Diego, found that 90% of the top-selling medications are advertised by illegal online pharmacies promoting their sales without a prescription on social media websites.
Using the 10 highest grossing drugs of 2009, they found that 90% of these drugs had a non-corporate social media marketing presence by illegal online drug sellers, fake pharmacies marketing the sale of prescription drugs without a prescription and that are not verified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) program.
When they expanded their research to include the top 20 globally marketed medicines 80% of the top 20 products were marketed either by advertising or linking to illegal online drug sellers using social media with pictures and direct links to illicit sellers.
Of those social media sources, Facebook alone accounted for 60% for the top 10 drugs and 50% for the top 20.
A Toronto doctor pleaded guilty to felony charges of smuggling unapproved drugs into the US to treat American professional football and baseball players. Dr. Anthony Galea, 51, faces a maximum sentenced of three years in prison and $500,000 of fines and forfeitures, for providing unapproved medical treatments to professional athletes, including players in the National Football League and Major League…
Read MoreBrothers convicted of selling illicit medication online in the UK sourced their product from America, prosecutors declare in fake pharmacy case. Asaad Hussain and his younger brother, Fraz Hussain, began selling yohimbe in tablet form as “Extensis” a made-up medication in March 2003, and despite a raid by MHRA in 2006, continued to sell it until 2008. The Hussains were…
Read MoreCounterfeiters are looking to profit from making fake prescription medicines, and in the process, are putting innocent, unsuspecting lives at risk. A CBS News investigation found that counterfeit medicine is a global problem that could put people who shop online for medicine at risk. According to an FDA official, “The counterfeiters prey on the vulnerability of the consumer, and they…
Read MoreBackground: Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA), linked to inappropriate medication use and higher health care expenditures, is the fastest growing form of pharmaceutical marketing. DTCA is legal only in the United States and New Zealand. However, the advent of online interactive social media “Web 2.0” technologies—that is, eDTCA 2.0—may circumvent DTCA legal proscriptions.Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of…
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A federal grand jury in Louisville, KY, indicted an online pharmacy owner on charges of illegally distributing and dispensing controlled substances, including counterfeit medication, as well as wire fraud, and money laundering. The defendant, after fleeing to Hong Kong, was extradited for arraignment on August 23.
Stacy Allen Taylor, age 44, of Louisville, KY, is accused of illegally dispensing controlled substances to customers via online pharmacies. Taylor, operating in Kentucky, allegedly used website addresses including ww.RXvaluePharm.com to distribute and dispense orders for prescription drugs for a total income of $790,000, announced the Department of Justice.
Taylor is also accused of shipping these medications from India and Hong Kong to customers in the U.S., as well as making transaction payments through a bank in Cyprus in order to avoid detection in the source of the medications.
In one instance, Taylor is accused of dispensing 90 counterfeit Phentermine pills to a resident of Frazeysburg, OH, after the resident completed an online order from with his company. Accuses the indictment, “The order was authorized by Taylor and was filled by Health PMO and associates via the internet. The order was accepted and processed without a valid prescription, interview, or physical examination by a licensed medical professional…Lab results show there was no Phentermine in the product received.”
Taylor is accused of providing customers with prescription medications without requiring prescriptions, and also providing counterfeit medications that were tested and found to contain no active ingredient.
Read MoreAccording to a Washington Post editor, the Protect IP Act, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), could protect American consumers against counterfeit medicines. If passed, the proposal would allow the Justice Department to move against any foreign website that infringes on copyright or trademarks – like the rogue online “pharmacies” that sell harmful fake medicines. Ninety-six percent of these purported…
Read MoreA Utah Grand Jury returned 26 counts of mail and wire fraud against two Utah residents allegedly involved in a cosmetic surgery business operating without a supervising doctor and selling medications without prescriptions or medical oversight. Potentially sentenced to 30 years imprisonment and $1 million fine for each count of mail fraud, William Ricker Ferguson, age 52, and Ashlee Choate,…
Read MoreGhana’s Food and Drugs Board (FDB) is investigating a link between illicit drug sellers and counterfeit medicine manufacturers. FDB is following up an investigation began by the German Crime Investigations Department, reports Peace FM. Said James Lartey, Head of Communications for the FDB, “So what is happening now is that many of [drug dealers] prefer investing into counterfeit drugs instead…
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