Securing Pharma: California Task Force Will Tackle Online Fake Drugs Trade

A task force has been created by the US Attorney’s Office in San Francisco to combat counterfeit pharmaceuticals and money laundering on the Internet, according to a report from the Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Coalition.

Securing Pharma in their September 22nd post reports on a new Federal task force specifically set up to handle fake drugs.

According to the Securing Pharma:

• Working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service, the first focus of the task force will be counterfeiting activities in the Northern Judicial District of California, but the intention is eventually to expand its focus nationwide and even overseas.

• The team’s location is considered to be strategic because of the high density of Internet financial service vendors on the west coast of the USA, including iOffer, eBay and PayPal.

• "Any transaction(s) through these companies technically give this group legal venue on future investigations outside of the Northern Judicial District of California, as well as abroad," commented PCSC.

This new task force is obviously a huge step forward as it relates to taking the fight to these criminals who have for too long been able to ply their deadly wares directly to the consumer.

Secure Pharma Chain endorses and encourages all regulatory oversight in combating fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit drugs. Secure Pharma Chain encourages all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain to take proactive measures in securing their inventories from this criminal element and their deadly, bogus medications.

To read the entire Securing Pharma blog post, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/585.php.

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

Smash and Grab Raid at Pharmaceutical Warehouse

Phil Taylor in a piece in SecuringPharma.com reports on a smash and grab raid of a pharmaceutical warehouse in British Columbia.

The Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Consortium has reported another pharmaceutical warehouse burglary at a wholesaler in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

The incident occurred on April 15 and resulted in the loss of around $40,000-worth of inventory, says the PCSC, which warned recently of an upsurge in suspicious activity around pharmaceutical facilities in the wake of the $76m raid on Eli Lilly's distribution facility in Enfield, Connecticut.

According to the report from PCSC, on April 15th, five individuals broke into the wholesaler’s warehouse lobby in a smash-and-grab raid in which they attacked the warehouse, cage and vault.

To read the SecuringPharma.com story online, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/451.php.

The issue of pharmaceutical cargo theft energizes the need for material screening of products within the supply chain, from manufacturer to dispenser, to properly protect consumers everywhere.

As the value and prevalence increases, so too does the potential risk to consumers.

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

Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Coalition: Perrigo Cargo Theft in Texas

The Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Coalition (PCSC) issued an alert on a recent cargo theft of an entire shipment from the private label-over the counter generic drug company, Perrigo, near Dallas, Texas.

The theft included the entire shipment which was valued at approximately $400,000. The incident occurred while the cargo was en route from Perrigo’s Michigan distribution center to a San Marcos, Texas warehouse operated by HE Butt Grocery Company.

The shipment included generic over the counter products of minoxidil, nicotine gum, nicotine lozenges, nutritional supplements and vitamins.

This particular incident, based on stolen consumer healthcare products, energizes the need for routine material screening of products within the supply chain, from manufacturing to dispensing, to properly protect consumers from theft, fraud, adulteration, contamination and counterfeiting.

The criminals will likely attempt to sell and re-introduce this product back into the legitimate supply chain via gray marketeers. The danger to the consumer revolves around the product being outside the legitimate chain of custody and the criminals ability to adulterate, counterfeit or otherwise impact the product so that it is unsafe for consumption.

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