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/.

Comparison and Combination of Spectroscopic Techniques for Detection of Counterfeit Medicines

ScienceDirect.com has made available an online report comparing spectroscopic techniques in the detection of counterfeit medications.

In this highly technical report, scientists studied Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and Raman spectroscopy to determine which techniques and associations were the best for discriminating genuine from counterfeit and imitations samples.

The medications tested were counterfeit and imitations of Viagra and Cialis two of the most counterfeited products globally.

According to the report:

It is shown that for the Viagra® samples, the best results were provided by a combination of FT-IR and NIR spectroscopy. On the other hand, the best results for the Cialis® samples were provided by the combination of NIR and Raman spectroscopy (1400–1190 cm−1).

These techniques not only permitted a clear discrimination between genuine and counterfeit or imitation samples but also the distinction of clusters among illegal samples. This might be interesting for forensic investigations by authorities.

Secure Pharma Chain endorses all techniques and testing as it relates to being able to detect and interdict fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medication however technologies are in use today within the supply chain that allow for the accurate testing of pharmaceuticals within their sealed, unit of sale container.

Unlike Spectroscopy, these technologies do not require destruction or degradation of the product, laboratory testing or technicians to run and analyze testing results.

EDXRD allows the end user to deploy forensic level testing without opening up the container for testing or sample prep. Additionally EDXRD can accurately test products within the supply chain by warehouse resources within seconds.

To date the EDXRD testing has accurately, efficiently and effectively protected the supply chain end user from receiving or shipping adulterated, fraudulent or counterfeit drugs including Cialis and Viagra.

Spectroscopy is an excellent technology when you need very specific forensic sampling, but when you need to know if your inventories are safe before you ship them,

you don't need a laboratory to interdict counterfeit medications.

To read the entire survey report, visit: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TGX-504127R-1&_user=10&_coverDate=11%2F02%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f9acd7f0661b04a5da0138dbac9966fa.

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

Canadian Gold Medal Paralympian Arrested for Counterfeit Drugs

The Globe and Mail are reporting on a story of the Gold Medal Skip or Captain of the 2010 Canadian Paralympics Curling Team being arrested in the United States on charges of trafficking in counterfeit drugs.

According to Washington State court records, Jim Armstrong of Richmond, BC was arrested in Blaine, Washington while trying to pick up a package of thousands of counterfeit Viagra and Cialis pills.

The court complaint, filed April 16, said Mr. Armstrong “caused the introduction into interstate commerce of a misbranded drug with intent to mislead or defraud.” It also alleges he was involved in the trafficking of these counterfeit drugs.

The issue of counterfeit drugs, its almost mainstream criminal activity and the threat to the healthcare of consumers worldwide encourages the need of all within the pharmaceutical supply chain to deploy solutions and technologies to combat this potentially deadly crime.

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

To read the entire Globe and Mail story, visit: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/paralympic-curling-skip-arrested-in-us-over-counterfeit-drugs/article1542641/

CEO of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals sentenced to 4 years for selling Knock-off Drugs

Jared Wheat, the CEO and founder of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals was charged $50,000 and sentenced to 50 months in prison for illegally selling prescription drugs online. He distributed fake versions of a variety of medications which included Xanax, Valium, Ambien, Vioxx, Zoloft, Viagra, and Cialis, which he ultimately sold over the Internet without requiring prescriptions.

Hi-Tech Parmaceuticals is located in Georgia and is known for their herbal supplements which are distributed to a variety of American retailers and convenience stores nationwide. Hi-Tech’s most popular products include Stamina-Rx, which it describes as a "maximum sexual stimulant," Lipodrene, "for advanced appetite control and metabolic stimulation," and Metanabol, a "revolutionary catalyst for increasing lean mass and strength.

By accepting a plea bargain, a variety of other charges against him were dropped. These included such charges as racketeering, blackmail and murder conspiracies, and for spiking supplements with ephedrine alkaloids. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned ephedrine alkaloid use in 2004 after finding that it has potential for dangerous effects on the heart.

Also as part of the plea, said MSNBC, the defendants admitted to operating a manufacturing facility—described as filthy—in Belize in which they produced generic versions of a variety of medications such as Xanax, Valium, Ambien, Vioxx, Zoloft, Viagra, and Cialis, which they ultimately sold over the Internet without requiring prescriptions.

Apparently, reported MSNBC, Wheat conspired to murder an FDA agent and to blackmail a former assistant U.S. attorney general. And, while the allegations were made based on information provided by confidential informants, the charge was dropped in plea bargaining talks.

If the leadership of a national known manufacturer who distributes nationwide could instigate distribution of fake products, how can the public be protected?

It is for this reason that pedigree by itself cannot protect consumers– What needs authenticated is not just WHO it was received from but also WHAT was received! – For this reason, we recommend authentication of the product itself. To find out more on how authentication can protect your supply from adulteration – please visit www.xstreamsystems.net.