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Police in Edmonton, Alberta announced the seizure of 130,000 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl from multiple residences in the area, including one home converted into a fentanyl pill processing lab…
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On May 22, 2016, law enforcement officers were dispatched to a residence in Madison, Wisconsin, in response to a report of a 37-year-old man who had stopped breathing. The victim was dead by the time officers arrived at his residence. An autopsy later confirmed that the victim’s death was caused by acute intoxication due to the combined effects of a substance called U-47700 and Benzodiazepine Analogue (Etizolam).
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A young New York mother is dead and her family is demanding answers after she received injections to enhance her buttocks, CBS News reports. Latesha Bynum, 32, went to a “doctor” practicing out of an apartment in the Gramercy Park neighborhood in New York. Within hours of having the procedure, Ms. Bynum had to be hospitalized. Her brother Tymel told…
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Metformin, generic Glucophage, was the fifth most frequently prescribed medication in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2016. PSM did a price comparison and found that the same prescription costs over three times as much in Canada as it does in the U.S….
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In a television report for NBC Nightly News, Lester Holt and his investigative team were able to find Chinese-made, bulk fentanyl powder for sale on the Internet after searching for “buy fentanyl” online. When his crew sent an enquiry email to one of the listed sellers, they responded: “Hello, We have a very potent fentanyl analogue, very similar in potency…
Read MoreFake Drugs Have Real Consequences for Patients Black market medicine is terrible for patients all over the world, including Americans. At best, counterfeit and substandard medicine may not adequately treat a patient’s illness. At worst, counterfeit medicines may cause poisoning or death. Each of the following stories mentions people who have been sickened or died after being treated with fake…
Read MoreIn early July, European authorities reported that counterfeit versions of Omnitrope, a drug containing human growth hormone, were found in France, Denmark, and Mexico. The counterfeit Omnitrope was designed to look like it was made by a large drug manufacturer, but it contained no active ingredient. Shortly thereafter, German authorities announced that a fake version of a schizophrenia drug, Xeplion, was discovered in Germany. The Xeplion was also a knock-off, mimicking packaging used in Bulgaria and Romania.
These incidents are the latest in a stream of reports about counterfeit drugs throughout Europe. The problem lies in lax security of the supply chain — distributors, middlemen and wholesalers between the drug maker and the consumer. Despite ongoing problems with the EU drug supply chain, Congress is currently considering a bill that would open the U.S. to imports from the EU and elsewhere. We can’t have a serious debate about drug importation without understanding what is going on in Europe.
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The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has just released their Internet Drug Outlet Identification Program Progress Report for State and Federal Regulators: August 2017, outlining the current state of fake online pharmacies that sell to U.S. patients.
Out of 11,688 Internet drug outlets reviewed, the NABP found that 11,142 (95.8%) were “operating out of compliance with state and federal laws and/or NABP patient safety and pharmacy standard practices.”
Read MoreAn August 23, 2017 editorial in the Journal of American of the American Medical Association (JAMA) supports President Trump’s stated intention to declare the nation’s opioid epidemic a national emergency.
Read MoreDon’t Let Unlicensed Pharmacies Dispense In Oklahoma! (Don’t live in Oklahoma? Write a letter to your own Senators here.) Congress thinks letting unlicensed foreign pharmacies dispense in Oklahoma is a great money-saving idea. It’s a dangerous and foolish idea. Over 20 U.S. Senators have co-sponsored legislation that lets patients order medications from unlicensed foreign pharmacies and ship into Oklahoma.…
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