Stolen in 2009, GSK Inhalers Showing Up in Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

The FDA and GlaxoSmithKline have recently announced that some of the Advair Diskus inhalers stolen from a GSK distribution warehouse in 2009 have been found in some pharmacies.

According to the GSK press release:

• The safety and effectiveness of the stolen inhalers cannot be assured and they should not be used.

• The products were reported stolen in August 2009 from a GlaxoSmithKline warehouse near Richmond, Va. The inhalers found recently were the first from the stolen lots to be found in commerce. However, more stolen product may still be on the market and GSK continues to work with the FDA to aggressively investigate the matter.

• Medicine in the stolen cartons could represent a health risk because it has been removed from the legitimate supply chain. The product may have been tampered with and the storage conditions under which the stolen products were held are unknown. Inhalers from these lots should not be dispensed, sold, or used.

• The lot numbers, doses, and expiration dates of the stolen Advair Diskus inhalers are:
Lot 9ZP2255 - NDC 0173-0696-00, Advair Diskus 250/50, 60 Dose – Exp: Sep 2010
Lot 9ZP3325 - NDC 0173-0697-00, Advair Diskus 500/50, 60 Dose – Exp: Sep 2010


The discovery of the stolen products within the legitimate supply chain magnifies the commercial gaps that exist within the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain and the ability for those with a nefarious intent to exploit them.

As Secure Pharma Chain continues to report, there is a vast network of criminal elements that are taking advantage of the huge profits in dealing with stolen, sub-standard, adulterated, fraudulent and counterfeit medications. This criminal element imperils the legitimate industry and victimizes the consumer, sometimes with deadly consequence.


In this particular incident, the danger to the consumer is the efficacy of the drug and the unknown as to the conditions that it has been stored and if it has been somehow altered, diluted, adulterated or the contents counterfeited by the criminal element which could harm the end use consumer.

Secure Pharma Chain endorses that all members of the legitimate supply chain deploy a variety of solutions and technologies to close these commercial gaps, protect their inventories and make certain that the products that they are passing onto the consumer are safe and efficacious.


To learn more about pharmaceutical supply chain solutions, designed to protect and authenticate materials, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.