MD News: Counterfeit Drugs Prove to be an Increasing Problem

The economic downturn and continuously rising drug prices can influence consumers to seek cheaper prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs from unauthorized providers and online sources.

MD News, America's leading business and practice management magazine for physicians reports on the Pharmaceutical Security Institute report regarding growth of counterfeit drugs and how physicians need to be counseling their patients on the dangers of bogus medications.

Highlighted in the MD News story:

• The Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI) reports that counterfeit drugs have tripled since 2004 to a startling 1,700 incidents worldwide in 2009. It is estimated that the size of the counterfeit drug market ranges from $75 billion to $200 billion each year. PSI suspects this number to likely be much larger since most cases of counterfeit drugs are hard to detect.

• Stress to your patients the serious consequences of purchasing counterfeit drugs. These fakes may include too much, too little or none of the ingredients found in the real medications, which could be detrimental to a patient’s health.

Healthcare professionals need to a primary conduit in informing their patients and the healthcare consumer of the dangers of fraudulent, adulterated, sub-standard and counterfeit drugs.

Today more than ever the populations around the globe are all at risk from the effects of the proliferation of these potentially lethal fakes.

To read the entire MD News story, visit: http://www.mdnews.com/news/2010_12/national_dec10_counterfeit-drugs-prove-to-be-an-increasing-problem

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

Will 2011 Be The Year of the Anti-Counterfeiter?

Several positive signs, point to the new year of 2011 becoming the tipping point in the battle against the deadly scourge of counterfeit drugs?

Even though in recent year's it would appear that there have been few significant victories in the war against fake drugs, there are hopeful signs that in the new year there will be a significant tipping point or sea change in this important crusade...

• Governments, law enforcement and regulatory agencies in developed countries are now publicly taking action and proactive steps in stemming the onslaught of the criminal enterprises engaged in counterfeit pharmaceuticals. The actions by the authorities in the developed world are also aiding officials in underdeveloped nations in their efforts. New laws, with well thought out legal direction and meaningful penalties shrink the criminals return and make them more vulnerable.


• The mainstream media outlets are finally recognizing the issue and are now routinely reporting on and informing consumers that this deadly problem impacts the health and well being of people all around the globe. In year's past it was rare to find a story about drug counterfeiting coming from a major media outlet, now it is rare not to have the issue, its enforcement and the consequences not reported on by a major news organization.
  
  
• Because of the media attention, consumers are now understanding the scope of the threat and there is evidence that they are using their buying power to encourage the supply chain to take action.


• The pharmaceutical supply chain is becoming more proactive in their recognition of the problem. In the past they have routinely passed the responsibility of adulterated, fraudulent, sub-standard and counterfeit drugs to others in the supply chain not realizing the costs and liability that ultimately gets spread out to all. Not so long ago the status quo and "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" was the standard response from industry leaders when the issue of bogus drugs was mentioned. In 2010, there was a collective awakening from manufacturers, distributors and dispensers that hopefully will evolve into a full blown revolution of action.


• Technologies and solutions are coming into into the market that give the supply chain the tools they need to both attack and defend their inventories from the introduction of these dangerous fakes. As these technologies are deployed, the drug counterfeiter will be disadvantaged in introducing his bogus wares onto the consumer.

These are all positive signs but clearly individually or collectively they do not mean that the issue of counterfeit medications will not continue to grow and proliferate or that millions around the globe will not die or have their health negatively impacted.

What these signs do mean collectively is that the meaningful pieces of the overall solution of the global epidemic of counterfeit drugs are finally coming together so that true progress can finally begin in earnest.

Cheers to 2011!

Alan Clock, Senior Vice President, XStream Systems

Fake Drugs Mean Prison for St. Louis County Man

Man to be sentenced for trafficking in bogus erectile dysfunction drugs that were purchased on-line.

Robert Patrick in the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports about a St. Louis County man who has pleaded guilty to federal charges and admitted to selling thousands of counterfeit erectile dysfunction pills over the last several years.

According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch story:

• Mark Hughes, 47, ordered counterfeit versions of the drugs Viagra and Cialis online from China and India, and sold them either in an illegal and unlicensed pharmacy or via word of mouth, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Bodenhausen said in court.

• Hughes' last shipment, of 1,000 pills, was intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2009 and delivered by investigators. Hughes house was then searched and he admitted buying roughly 11,000 pills. He sold them for $5 each, roughly one-third of the wholesale price, Bodenhausen said.

• Bodenhausen said that the pills either did not contain the correct drug or contained a less potent dose of the drug.

• In court, Hughes pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods and misbranding a drug, and could face at least two years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines when sentenced in January, depending on a number of factors.

This is an excellent cautionary tale regarding those who set out to scam people by buying bogus goods online.

Mr. Hughes is fortunate that the bogus drugs that he sold did not adversely effect the health or kill someone or he would be facing a far more serious consequences.

Bogus drugs are becoming one of the more significant health care issues of the 21st century. 11,000 doses of a potentially lethal, fraudulent or adulterated drug could poison and create a huge health care disaster within a communities population.

Kudos to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for intercepting these bogus medications.

To read the entire story, visit: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/article_0ac42318-dad5-11df-a1ce-0017a4a78c22.html

To learn about pharmaceutical anti-counterfeit solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Interpol Starting Operation Against Counterfeit Drugs in Russia

First large scale initiative by Interpol in Russia against bogus medications.

ITAR-Tass reported on September 27th that Interpol Russia is initiating a large-scale operation against fake medicines.

Police Major General Timur Lakhonin, who heads Russia’s Interpol Bureau, is quoted in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta :

• “At present, a special raid was launched to detect the channel of counterfeit medicines. This is a new direction in our work. We found 1,200 websites in the Internet that sell fake medicines. These medicines are now being seized. The operation is underway in 25 countries and now it begins in Russia,” he said.

• “The most dangerous segment of the black market is counterfeiting of different antibiotics, contraceptives, steroids and weight loss medicines,” Lakhonin said.

This is a significant step forward for enforcing a critical health care problem and major criminal activity in Russia a country who is considered to have a relatively high percentage of its pharmaceutical supply chain impacted by fake drugs.

Secure Pharma Chain endorses more aggressive law enforcement against this criminal act but also encourages pharmaceutical supply chain members to proactively deploy technologies and best practice solutions to protect their inventories and consumers from these potentially lethal fakes.

To read the ITAR-TASS article, visit: http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15533991&PageNum=0

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

Customs Agents Seize $21M in Counterfeit Items at Cincinnati Airport

Operation Safe Summer with agents from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations discovered a variety of counterfeit items including counterfeit drugs.

As reported by Dan Horn and posted on-line at Cincinnati.com on September 28th, the seizures are part of a nationwide campaign by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to crack down on imports of knock-off products, which cost American companies and consumers hundreds of millions of dollars a year:

• Most of the counterfeit items came from China and all were seized between Sept. 7 and Sept. 17 as they passed through DHL's hub at the airport.

• "Pretty much anything that can be counterfeited, we came across," said Brian Bell, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection. "They were very good. The Chinese have perfected the art of duplicating our products."

• U.S. officials have said for years that the theft of intellectual property through counterfeit goods poses a major threat to the U.S. economy and to consumers, who could spend thousands of dollars for lower quality products or suffer injury because of defective parts or dangerous medicine.

• Federal agents seized almost 15,000 counterfeit shipments valued at more than $260 million nationwide last year, with China accounting for 79 percent of the illegal imports.

• The value of seizures dropped for the first time in 2009 - down from $272 million in 2008 - but federal officials say that may be because the global economic downturn reduced all imports by 25 percent. Until last year, intellectual property seizures increased steadily from about $93 million in 2005.

• He said counterfeiters are savvy, fast and getting better at mastering the technology needed to produce believable fakes. When the iPad came out earlier this year, Bell said, border protection officers began seizing knock-off versions within weeks. "The importation of counterfeit merchandise really damages the U.S. economy," he said.

• He said the DHL hub at the airport was targeted because so many goods pass through each day, not because the problem is worse here. He said DHL cooperated with federal officials and, as the shipping company, was not responsible for verifying the authenticity of the products it was paid to fly overseas.

• Criminal charges against the manufacturers of the counterfeit goods are unlikely because they are based overseas.

The fact that counterfeit products and dangerous fake drugs are becoming a semi-mainstream global export from emerging economies is very troubling and a significant threat.

This type of law enforcement confiscation, which will not likely lead to many if any criminal charges is becoming all too much the norm and represents a small fraction of the amount that comes into this country on a daily basis.

Industry leaders and consumers around the globe need to insist on regulatory/enforcement measures and need to take proactive steps to protect themselves from harmful goods that threaten populations.

To read the Mr. Horn’s article, visit: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100928/NEWS010703/309280053/Fake-items-seized-at-CVG.

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

Havocscope: Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Drugs Is The Top Black Market Activity Eclipsing Prostitution

Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Drugs are estimated to be valued at $200B per year, significantly eclipsing previous estimates and valued at over $12B more than the second most prevelant black market activity, prostitution.

Havocscope is an independent data and information provider of black market activities around the world.

The rankings by Havocscope are based on monitoring information from public sources including newspaper articles, academic journals, governmental data, non-governmental reports and press releases from relevant institutions.

Havocscope is the global leader in providing information on illicit activities worldwide and has been published and cited in a variety of well known mainstream publications globally.

The $200B annual black market value notably outpaces the previously accepted World Health Organizations 2010 estimate value of counterfeit drugs at $75B and easily outpaces by any single illicit drug black market activity like marijuana, cocaine or heroin.

Hopefully government officials, law enforcement, industry experts, health care professionals and most importantly consumers take note of this suprising statistic and activity.

The deadly crime of pharmaceutical fraud, adulteration and counterfeiting should be taken seriously by populations everywhere because the victims of this black market activity are unaware of the criminal act.

Certainly this data reflects a radical difference in public perceptions regarding counterfeiting and black market activity in general.

Havoscope ranks the United States as the number one market in the world for counterfeit good sales, followed by China, Spain, Mexico, Italy, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom, Russia and Germany.

The following is Havocscope’s Top 54 Black Market Activities and their annual value:

1. Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Drugs $200 Billion
2. Prostitution $187.67 Billion
3. Marijuana $141.80 Billion
4. Counterfeit Electronics $100 Billion
5. Cocaine $88 Billion
6. Opium and Heroin $65 Billion
7. Prescription Drugs $64.82 Billion
8. Web Video Piracy $60 Billion
9. Software Piracy $51.4 Billion
10. Cigarette Smuggling $50 Billion
11. Human Trafficking $32 Billion
12. Amphetamines $28.25 Billion
13. Illegal Fishing $23 Billion
14. Human Smuggling $20 Billion
15. Wildlife and Animal Smuggling $20 Billion
16. Movie Piracy $20 Billion
17. Ecstasy $16.07 Billion
18. Counterfeit Auto Parts $16 Billion
19. Illegal Logging $15 Billion
20. Gas and Oil Smuggling $12.75 Billion
21. Music Piracy $12.5 Billion
22. Counterfeit Clothing $12 Billion
23. Counterfeit Shoes $12 Billion
24. Trash Smuggling $11 Billion
25. Art and Antique Smuggling $10 Billion
26. Cable Piracy $8.5 Billion
27. Counterfeit Medical Devices $7 Billion
28. Counterfeit Sports Goods and Memorabilia $6.5 Billion
29. Counterfeit Cigarettes $4 Billion
30. Video Game Piracy $3.5 Billion
31. Mobile Entertainment Piracy $3.4 Billion
32. Alcohol Smuggling $3.2 Billion
33. Counterfeit Cosmetics 3.0 Billion
34. Counterfeit Money Orders and Checks $2.5 Billion
35. Counterfeit Toys $2.23 Billion
36. Counterfeit Airline Parts $2 Billion
37. Counterfeit Small Arms $1.8 Billion
38. International Adoptions $1.3 Billion
39. Counterfeit Alcohol $1 Billion
40. Counterfeit Watches $1 Billion
41. Counterfeit Credit and Debit Cards $0.82 Billion ($825.05 Million)
42. Counterfeit Pesticides $0.735 Billion ($735 Million)
43. Book Piracy $0.6 Billion ($600 Million)
44. Kidnap and Ransom $0.5 Billion ($500 Million)
45. Diamond Smuggling $0.28 Billion ($280 Million)
46. Arms Trafficking $0.245 Billion ($245 Million)
47. Counterfeit Currency $0.182 Billion ($182 Million)
48. Nuclear Smuggling $0.1 Billion ($100 Million)
49. Counterfeit Cuban Cigars $0.1 Billion ($100 Million)
50. Organ Trafficking $0.075 Billion ($75 Million)
51. Counterfeit Purses $0.07 Billion ($70 Million)
52. Counterfeit Lighters $0.042 Billion ($42 Million)
53. Counterfeit Batteries$ 0.023 Billion ($23 Million)
54. Body Parts and Human Tissue $0.006 Billion ($6 Million)

To read the Havocscope online post, visit: http://www.havocscope.com/ranking/products.

To learn more about pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting technologies: www.xstreamsystems.net.

Man Charged with Selling Fake Drugs in Wisconsin Faced Illegal-Drug Charges in Texas

Balbir Bhogal a man now facing Federal charges for peddling fake Viagra had been arrested and charged in 2002 for running a bogus pharmacy in Texas and possessing multiple illegal drugs.

Dan Simmons in the Wednesday, September 15th edition of the Wisconsin State Journal reports on a story previously posted in Secure Pharma Chain.

Along with prominent Madison pharmacist and businesswoman Marla Ahlgrimm, who owns Women's Health America and serves on the UW Foundation board, Mr. Bhogal was jailed on federal charges that the pair had sold millions of doses of fake Viagra and other drugs, and conspired to illegally sell painkillers.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal article:

• The Middleton man charged recently with peddling fake Viagra had earlier been arrested and charged in 2002 for running a sham pharmacy in Texas and possessing multiple illegal drugs, according to court records.

• "He was certainly a predator type," said Andrew Walters, police chief of Oakridge North, Texas, where Balbir Bhogal was charged in October 2002.

• A complaint filed last month in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn alleges renowned Madison pharmacist Marla Ahlgrimm, 55, and Bhogal, 63, imported and sold millions of doses of fake Viagra and other counterfeit drugs and conspired to illegally sell stimulants and tranquilizers.

• In the 2002 case, Bhogal was charged with five felony counts of possessing illegal drugs after an undercover police raid allegedly found cocaine, crack, marijuana and a rave drug known as Special K, among other illegal substances including a Fed Ex package containing phentolamine mesylate, used for erectile dysfunction in men, at his storefront herbal supplement store in Oakridge North, about 30 miles north of Houston.

• "It is speculated that Bhogal was making his own ‘viagra' pills," a detective wrote as part of the incident report. But Bhogal was not specifically charged for it then, Walters said.

• At the time, he was identified as an assistant professor at the Baylor College of Medicine and a package addressed to him bore the address of the Veteran's Affairs hospital in Houston, according to the court records. Representatives at both institutions declined comment Wednesday.

• He was sentenced to probation on the charges in April 2004 before the charges were dropped for unknown reasons in 2006, according to Walters and court records.

• It's not clear how Ahlgrimm came into contact with Bhogal, a consultant at her business, Women's Health America of Madison. In court records he's also described as a "registered agent" at Nutragen, L.L.C., a Madison pharmaceutical company.

• According to the recent complaint, a confidential source told the FBI about buying millions of tablets of prescription drugs from Ahlgrimm and Bhogal. Another informant reported ordering prescription painkillers and erectile dysfunction medication that, when intercepted by authorities, were found to be fake or ineffective.

When trusted professional health care providers and prominent pharmaceutical supply chain members become actively involved in the criminal and deadly act of drug counterfeiting, it is vital that the members of the supply chain protect their businesses and consumers from bogus medications.

This is no longer a crime that occurs and impacts the populations of underdeveloped nations.

Verifying and securing inventories is now a vital and necessary process.

To read the entire Wisconsin State Journal article, visit: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_ad573bec-c126-11df-b94e-001cc4c03286.html.

To learn more about pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting technology, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.

Caution: The Rising Price of Fake Drugs

Industry security experts are noticing a significant trend in the illegal counterfeit medication trade and unfortunately it does not bode well for the unsuspecting consumer.

Apparently the sophisticated drug counterfeiter is realizing that as the consumer and supply chain becomes more aware of this deadly crime, they must be more clever in marketing their wares publicly.

With the Internet and its anonymity the counterfeiter has been able to market directly to the supply chain and consumer. In the past all they had to do was to offer their bogus goods online at a dramatically lower price than the genuine product and they would automatically have a ready supply of buyers.

Today as the consumer becomes more aware of the exploding issue of fake medications they are heeding the buyer beware mantra of "if a deal is too good to be true, it probably is" and avoiding nefarious deals.

Naturally the smart counterfeiter is now raising his price, just enough to appear as if it is a dramatically discounted, genuine product but not too good to appear to be "too good to be true" to the end user.

The perfect, high margin crime of pharmaceutical counterfeiting is becoming even more lucrative.

Now more than ever, the pharmaceutical supply chain needs to protect itself by deploying a variety of safeguards and technologies to make certain that products that flow through their inventories are authentic and safe. Consumers need to be very diligent and cautious to make certain that they are buying their medications from a reliable and trusted pharmacy and not from sources that do not require prescriptions from your personal physician.

As it relates to your medications, "buyer beware" not only means protecting your pocketbook but protecting your health and well being as well.

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

Sudan Combats Sale of Counterfeit Drugs

Countries in Africa continue to fight the incredibly deadly crime of counterfeit medications which attacks and kills many within underdeveloped nations.

The following story comes from the August 7th edition of the Sudan Tribune and describes how the Sudanese government wages a war against counterfeiters who blatantly shop their dangerous wares on an unsophisticated population.

In Africa, where counterfeit medications can make up over 50% of a nation’s pharmaceutical supply chain, the issue of bogus drugs is at epidemic proportions and its impact on the health and well being of these populations is increasingly more deadly.

Consumers in developed nations should not feel comfortable that they are immune from the dangers of these criminal acts.

Because of huge profits, the likelihood that they will avoid legal punishment and without consumers or regulatory agencies on guard against it, counterfeiters are even more incentivized to ply their deadly inventories within developed nation’s legitimate supply chains.

The following are the highlights from the Sudan Tribune article:

· A megaphone atop a double cabin land cruiser roamed Luonyaker main market on Friday warning customers that some unscrupulous persons have flooded most of the rural towns with fake medicines purportedly to cure all diseases.
· In Southern Sudan, even those selling fake drugs are vulnerable to counterfeiting. Wol Kon Laau, head of Yiik Adoor Primary Health Care Unit in Gogrial East County, Warrap State, said the common use of counterfeit or sub-standard pharmaceuticals means many patients wait too long to seek proper medical attention.
· "As a practitioner I have had examples to give. I encountered most of them when I was practicing as a medical student that certain drugs were brought in into the system even in the normal delivery system which were of low quality and it even becomes worse with the drug peddlers who are going about villages killing people," he added.
· A salesman without medical background says his Capsule cures high blood pressure, arthritis, kidney disease, premature menopause, cardiovascular disease, and infertility, saying it might be correct but this requires prescription from medical practitioners not by assumption.
· "Fake and counterfeited products usually involve products that are either high volume or high cost. So you look mostly at anti-Malarial currently the Artemisinine combination therapy. In addition to that there are products for erectile dysfunction and because these are often sold at pubs and places where people try to get them without prescription they go for high value, they go for high cost," he explained.
· "With me in the committee we go on the market. We sample products, and we publish the results so that we can name and shame. We hope that within 18 months Southern Sudan in general and Warrap state in particular should be able to have very decent data on the extent of the quality problem in the area," said Laau.
· He says that this will give health officials a better sense of the scale of the problem and allow for the eventual prosecution of those purposely endangering public health.

To learn more about technology and solutions to combat counterfeit medications, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

To read the entire Sudan Tribune article, visit: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article35875.

Reuters: World Customs Organization to Fight $200B Counterfeit Drug Industry

“Counterfeit drugs have become a $200-billion-a-year industry and the 176-nation World Customs Organization (WCO) will sign a declaration later this month to fight the scourge, an official said on Thursday.”

As reported by John Irish from Reuters on June 10th, the WCO announced their efforts to sign a document and unit behind international efforts to eradicate and fight counterfeit drugs.

The story is full of excellent facts, statistics and official quotes.

According to the Reuters story:

• "We have more fakes than real drugs in the market," said Christophe Zimmermann, the WCO's anti-counterfeiting and piracy coordinator. "In 2007-2008 alone, it rose 596 percent."

• The World Trade Organization says fake anti-malaria drugs kill 100,000 Africans a year and the black market deprives governments of 2.5-5 percent of their revenue.

• The Brussels-based WCO represents customs operations globally and has joined with former French president's Jacques Chirac's foundation to raise awareness at upper echelons to curtail the illicit industry.

• Spurred by Chirac's foundation, 176 national customs chiefs will sign a declaration on June 24 to ban the making and marketing of counterfeit drugs, Zimmermann told Reuters.

• Fake medicines often contain the wrong or toxic ingredients and pose a growing health threat worldwide, especially in poor countries where drugs are sold to treat conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.

• "If these subjects are not dealt with and strong action not taken, they will be a source of conflict," said Catherine Joubert, director general of the Fondation Chirac, adding that so far 30 groups had signed the declaration.

• Getting the WCO's 176 members on board will lend legitimacy to proposals to revamp obsolete legislation and improve coordination between enforcement agencies, Zimmermann said.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog endorses the efforts of the WCO and other international agencies to fight this terrible criminal act that kills and impairs the health of millions globally each year.

Important to the success of the fight is the use of anti-counterfeiting technologies and authentication solutions designed to interdict bogus drugs within pharmaceutical supply chains to protect consumers.

To read Mr. Irish’s story in Reuters, visit: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65961U20100610.

Or visit WCO's site at: http://www.wcoomd.org/.

To learn more about pharmaceutical supply chain security solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

MedPage Today: FDA Warns Consumers About Fake Tamiflu

MedPage Today’s Cole Petrochko, writes about the FDA warning consumers on Friday about websites selling a fake "generic" version of the flu drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu), which may be dangerous to patients allergic to penicillin.

According to the FDA and MedPage Today:

· The Tamiflu fake does not contain the active ingredient of the drug it imitates but does contain cloxacillin, which can cause anaphylaxis in patients allergic to antibiotics in the same class as penicillin.

· The FDA uncovered the mimic through purchasing the drug from an online retailer claiming to be an out-of-business drugstore, which mailed the agency a package from India, the FDA said in a prepared statement.

· The drug came in two foil-backed blister packages labeled "Oseltamivir Phosphate 75 mg. Capsules TM-FLU" and containing 15 yellow and tan capsules each filled with white powder. The fraudulent pills are manufactured by TRYDRUGS Pharmaceuticals PVT. LTD. according to the sample blister pack, the agency said.

· The FDA cautioned that legitimate online pharmacies exist and that consumers can protect themselves against fraudulent and potentially dangerous drugs by looking for the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Verified Internet Pharmacy Sites (VIPPS) Seal.

Although this counterfeit retailer has been caught, the FDA is warning all that it is likely that other nefarious sources will attempt to sell this harmful counterfeit.

To date the FDA has not received any reports of consumers suffering from adverse effects of the fake. Anyone who has purchased a generic Tamiflu medication is encouraged to contact the FDA’s Office Of Criminal Investigations. If a consumer has taken the drug and is showing signs of adverse effects the should report them to the FDA’s MedWatch program.

To read the entire MedPage Today story, visit:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/FDAGeneral/20741.

This is another significant chapter in the continued assult on global health care consumers by criminals selling dangerous counterfeit drugs.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog endorses and encourages consumers of only buying medications and health care products from legitimate, regulated and licensed pharmacies that utilize solutions and technologies which protects their inventories from fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medications.

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

Dr. Weil: Bogus Drugs Online

The following blog, from Dr. Weil’s Daily Blog, Your Health Today, appeared online on Wednesday, March 24, 2010.

Andrew Weil, M.D., is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, a healing oriented approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. In this particular blog, Dr. Weil takes on the deadly issue of fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit drugs:

The worldwide market for counterfeit drugs sold online is projected to reach $75 billion this year, a 92 percent increase over the past five years. The biggest sellers: fake drugs for erectile dysfunction (ED), which are especially popular because many men are embarrassed to discuss sexual problems with their physicians and because the genuine pharmaceuticals are costly. A study published online in January, 2010, by the International Journal of Clinical Practice estimated that as many 2.5 million men in the European Union alone may be using counterfeit Viagra, some of which can be harmful, even deadly. The researchers found that 150 patients had been admitted to hospitals in Singapore and four died after taking fake Cialis and herbal preparations sold as ED cures. The "Cialis" contained a powerful drug for diabetes.

Fake ED drugs aren't the only problems: in Argentina two pregnant women died after injections of a counterfeit treatment for anemia; in Bangladesh, 51 children died of kidney failure after taking paracetamol (acetaminophen) contaminated with anti-freeze. Some fake Viagra contained amphetamine or caffeine and bulk lactose or was colored blue with printer ink. A "vaccine" for life-threatening meningitis was found to be only water. Other fakes included antibiotics, contraceptives and anti-malarial pills.

My take? Aside from this additional evidence of over-reliance on drugs to solve real or perceived health problems, this is a disturbing trend. Not only does it pose the threat of ingesting harmful ingredients, but presents the danger that by circumventing your physician to buy drugs you think you need, any underlying, undiagnosed medical problem you may have would be missed, potentially putting you at additional risk.

To view Dr. Weil’s blog, visit: http://www.drweilblog.com/home/2010/3/24/bogus-drugs-online.html.

YLE: Finnish Customs Suspect Hundreds in Illegal Importation of Pharmaceuticals

The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE is reporting that Finnish Customs is investigating a widespread case of illegal importation of pharmaceuticals, and hundreds of Finns are suspected of having committed a crime.

According to the report:

· Finnish Customs is focusing on more than 800 online orders of medication from abroad that were placed over a two-month period. Finnish Customs have confiscated more than 140,000 individual tablets.

· Customs officials have stated that some of the bought so-called pharmaceuticals have even been toxic.

· Certain ordered remedies were discovered to contain floor wax, for example. As far as is known, the bogus drugs have not yet caused danger to anyone’s life.

· "Anyone who orders pharmaceuticals on the Net may be guilty of a medications law violation. If the medication contains intoxicants, this may be a drug violation or a violation involving performance enhancers", the Western Customs District's anti-crime chief Hannu Sinkkonen told YLE News.

· According to Finnish Customs, organized international criminal gangs are behind the illegal drug business.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog supports the enhanced enforcement and interdiction of fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medications.

It has long been known and reported that unlicensed international internet sites are notorious for their high percentage of bogus medications that can cause severe health issues or death to the consumer.

It is also well known that internet sites are a significant contributor of nefarious and fake medications ending up in the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chains.

The most effective interdiction is material authentication of products within the supply chain.

To learn more about supply chain authentication solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

To read more about the YLE report, visit: http://www.hs.fi/english/article/YLE+Customs+suspect+hundreds+of+Finns+of+illegal+importation+of+pharmaceuticals+over+the+Internet/1135256918425.

Counterfeit Pharmaceutical ROI

The following quote from Martin Van Triest, Interim Director of Rx-360, illustrates the high profitability of counterfeiting pharmaceuticals:

“If a counterfeiter invests $2,000 in faking a DVD, he may turn that into $20,000; if he invests $2,000 into faking cocaine, he may turn that into $200,000; but if he invests $2,000 into faking a pharmaceutical drug, he may turn that money into $2 million! At the same time, the punishment for getting caught counterfeiting pharmaceuticals is far less severe than for counterfeiting illegal recreational drugs such as cocaine. “

To learn more about solutions to fight counterfeit pharmaceuticals, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

XStream Systems Stories and News for the Week of October 24, 2008

Here are a few of stories that we at XStream Systems think are noteworthy as it relates to the ever growing issues of counterfeit and adulterated medications. XStream Systems thinks that its revolutionary technology that is capable of materials analysis of medications inside of sealed containers will be an important part of solving this global problem:

Demand for Foreign Products Changing FDA, Official Says
The FDA needs to shift its approach on imports to one that minimizes risk at each point in the product life cycle — from foreign manufacture to domestic use, according to Timothy Ulatowski, director of compliance in the agency’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. The FDA will release a draft guidance soon that outlines standards for third-party certification programs for FDA-regulated products, he said. It also is preparing a draft guidance on good importer practices.

A New "Double-Dose" Pill Drug Recall Is Issued By ETHEX Corp.
ETHEX Corporation announced today that it has voluntarily recalled three specific lots (77946, 81141 and 81142) of Dextroamphetamine Sulfate 5 mg tablets, as a precaution, due to the possible presence of oversized tablets. Oversized tablets may contain as much as about twice the labeled amount of the active ingredient.

FDA To Open Multiple Inspection Offices Abroad By Year-End
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will send the first FDA inspection teams to new offices in China, India, Europe, and Latin America before the end of 2008, according to HHS. "In the past year, we've upgraded labs and equipment, hired additional staff, and begun implementing product safety agreements with key trading partner, including China," stated HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt.

FTC Breaks Up Spam Network Which Illegally Sold Drugs Online
The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that it has broken up a global spam network responsible for sending billions of illegal messages encouraging consumers to buy unsafe male-enhancement and weight loss pills. The spam network, which processed credit card information in Cyprus and Georgia, used servers in China to host its websites. The FTC said the network used by this operation compromised tens of thousands of computers around the world and was capable of sending up to 10 billion spam messages per day. The bogus drugs were shipped from China and India.