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BEIJING — Under fire for not having the resources to better protect consumers at home, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is deploying staff members abroad to work directly with importers and foreign regulatory agencies to guard against contaminated animal feed, counterfeit drugs, toys made with lead paint and dairy products containing melamine. By Maureen Fan19 November 2008 Read the…
Read MoreWebsites fueling prescription drug abuse, selling non-FDA approved drugs taken offline LegitScript, an online pharmacy certification program, announced today that it has succeeded in getting nearly 500 "rogue" Internet pharmacy websites shut down. The sites had been selling prescription drugs or steroids without requiring a prescription, a practice that is illegal and considered unsafe by medical authorities. In most cases,…
Read MoreNov. 17 (Bloomberg) — Interpol seized more than $6.65 million of counterfeit medicines against malaria, HIV and tuberculosis in Southeast Asia and made 27 arrests, disrupting the region's fake drug trade for the second time in three years. The haul, part of a five-month investigation called Operation Storm across Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, involved almost 200…
Read MorePurchasing prescription medications via the Internet, newspaper advertisements or from any source other than licensed pharmacies is dangerous, according to the Health Ministry, which together with the Israel Police has seized thousands of pills suspected of being counterfeit. The effort by the police and the ministry's unit against pharmaceutical crime was part of an international law-enforcement campaign now being carried…
Read MoreLONDON (Reuters) – Authorities in nine countries have raided businesses suspected of supplying medicines illegally over the Internet in an unprecedented global swoop coordinated by Interpol, officials said on Thursday. The operation, codenamed Pangea, involved dozens of locations in Britain, Germany, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada and the United States. By Ben Hirschler13 November 2008 Read the full…
Read MoreTHE Government has launched a medical drugs task force aimed at checking the proliferation of counterfeit drugs in order to safeguard people's health. Health Permanent Secretary, Simon Miti has also challenged the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority (PRA), Police Service and the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) to make use of the new task force and ensure that counterfeit drugs do not land…
Read MoreDr David Gillen, medical director for the drug company Pfizer, warned men were more likely to "bypass" the NHS in order to obtain treatments anonymously. A survey by Pfizer of 900 men over 35 found one in 10 had bought prescription medicines without authorisation. The UK's medical regulator said buying medicines online was not illegal, but added it was "not…
Read MoreFederal authorities said Thursday they have seized some of an Ohio company's supplies of contaminated blood thinner containing material from China. U.S. marshals, acting at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, seized 11 lots of heparin from Celsus Laboratories Inc. of Cincinnati, the agency said in a news release. 6 November 2008 Read the full story at .
Read MoreCounterfeit drugs are a scourge that spans continents and patients everywhere. Sadly however, some of the most vulnerable countries such as Kenya have been deeply impacted by the problem. The World Health Organization reports that a survey performed by the National Quality Control Laboratories and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board found that almost 30 percent of drugs in Kenya are counterfeit, harming thousands of patients and representing a tremendous public health problem. In addition, a 2006 estimate indicates that counterfeit drug sales account for approximately $130 million annually in sales. Importantly, these fakes are believed to contribute to at least 200,000 of the 2.7 million deaths caused by malaria each year in Africa.