Illegal Internet Drug Dealer’s Mansion Up For Auction

Bidding starts at $1.5 million in an online auction next month for an Arlington home forfeited by a convicted Internet drug dealer.

As reported in the Dallas Morning News and the Associated Press, the massive mansion formerly owned by Rakesh Saran, a convicted Internet drug dealer is appraised at $3.7 million, was seized after Saran's 2005 arrest in an investigation of more than 20 illegal Internet pharmacies.

Saran in 2006 pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, two counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $68 million in restitution.

Going after the assets of the criminals who are poisoning populations with fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medications is a significant step forward in attracting the necessary publicity so that the average health care consumer understands the danger this crime is to them.

All members of the pharmaceutical supply chain need to deploy solutions and technologies to combat this clear and present danger to their business and consumers.

To read the entire Dallas Morning News article, visit: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9I92J2G1.html.

To learn more about pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Dallas Morning News: Investigation Reveals That Chinese Government "Hampered" FDA Probe of Tainted Heparin

In a follow up to a previous posting on a July 23rd posting of a Pharmalot.com blog, The Dallas Morning News in its Trail Blazers Blog continues the reporting on Congress questioning the FDA on their ability to work with the FDA on the Tainted Heparin probe.

According to the Dallas Morning News Trailblazer Blog:

"An investigation by Reps. Joe Barton and Michael Burgess has found that the Chinese government had 'severely hampered' a Food and Drug Administration probe into contaminated heparin." They wrote to FDA commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, saying that "FDA officials informed them in June that the agency was 'denied full access to manufacturing and laboratory facilities,' nor were they allowed to review records." Notably, the "FDA investigation focuses on a batch of tainted heparin, a popular blood thinner that was linked to at least 81 deaths in 2007 and 2008."

The continued exposure of the lack of Chinese cooperation reveals to everyone within the pharmaceutical supply chain that there are many significant gaps in the ability of regulatory authorities to control and enforce the quality of medications that are now such a prevalent part of the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Secure Pharma Chain encourages industry supply chain leaders to take appropriate measures and deploy technologies that protect their brand, secure their inventories, differentiate themselves in the marketplace and most importantly save from harm consumers who take these medications.

To view the Dallas Morning News blog, visit: http://www.trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/.