Pharmalot: Moms and Docs Think Less of Johnson & Johnson

A new survey finds the health care giant’s reputation has declined 27 percent among mothers, 31 percent among pediatricians and 23 percent among general practitioners.

Once again, Ed Silverman in the September 29th edition of his Pharmalot blog, examines the repercussions to the reputation of industry giant J&J in the wake of their recent recall scandal.

Here are some of the highlights of the blog post:

• If anyone thought the very messy recall scandal would blow over and Johnson & Johnson would emerge unscathed, they may want to think again. A new survey finds the health care giant’s reputation has declined 27 percent among mothers, 31 percent among pediatricians and 23 percent among general practitioners.

• Looked at another way, all three groups rated its reputation as an 8 - on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 as horrible and 10 as perfect - before the recalls. Now, all three groups rate J&J between 5 and 6. The survey of 139 mothers and 50 physicians was conducted by CLSA analyst David Maris, who says that, since some moms will moms and docs have permanently changed their view of J&J, “this is serious.”

• On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = not serious at all and 10 = extremely serious, moms were asked how serious they believed the recalls were. The average rating was 7.3. Meanwhile, 72 percent of the moms said the recalls have not permanently changed their view of J&J, and 56 percent will continue to trust the J&J brand. But 28 percent say the recalls have permanently changed their opinion. Of pediatricians, 60 percent will not change their prescribing habits for J&J products, but 28 percent of pediatricians and 36 percent of GP's say the recall is a serious quality issue.

• 53 percent of the moms trust J&J the most when compared to store-brand products offered by Wal-Mart and CVS, but 29 percent thought J&J brands were no better or worse than those store brands. And 48 percent of the docs say they may prescribe or recommend more non-J&J products in the future given the recall. Such as? generic versions of ibuprofen, acetaminophen,
diphenhydramine, Merck/SGP’s OTC Claritin, and Pfizer’s Children’s Advil. A field day for J&J rivals, yes?

• The health care giant is under a microscope for allegedly trying to hide from the FDA and consumers that some products were tainted and the hearing will be the first time that Weldon has appeared in public this year to address the problem. Small wonder moms and docs react the way do.

• Here’s how one doc answered the survey: “Your products are still not available. You have made my job more difficult. Answering tons of calls regarding the lack of fever reducer for children - “what do we do now?” Use generics, they are just as good.” And another: “Not permanently damaged, but J&J will have to do major PR to earn back customer’s trust and confidence in their products. Have to remember target audience like moms who are scared to death to use J&J products on their beloved children.”

• “We think negative changes in corporate reputations are serious and the ramifications may be slow to become apparent,” he writes in a report. “Doctors and consumers think that there are more things J&J can do to rebuild trust and confidence, with open and direct communication being most highly cited. Time will tell whether J&J successfully rebuilds this confidence and whether there are any longer-term consequences for the recalls.”

Clearly the entire pharmaceutical supply chain needs to take lessons from J&J’s mis-steps. Quality control and protection from fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medications are taking a serious toll on all of the members of the supply chain, not to mention most importantly the consumer.

To read the Pharmalot blog, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/09/moms-and-docs-think-less-of-johnson-johnson/#more-26662.

To learn more about pharmaceutical authentication technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Securing Pharma: Bangladesh Carrying Heavy Counterfeit Medicine Burden

Business Monitor International estimates that spurious medicines account for around $150m of Bangladesh's total prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical market of around $1.16bn.

Securing Pharma in a September 23rd post, details a recently published report, entitled Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q4 2010 compiled by Business Monitor International.

According to the Securing Pharma story:

• Testing of 5,000 medicine samples this year by the government of Bangladesh revealed that 300 or 6 per cent were either counterfeit or of substandard quality, according to Business Monitor International.

• The country's Public Health and Drug Testing Laboratory found that many of the fake or low-quality products were antibiotics and other potentially life-saving medicines and therefore pose a risk to public health.

• The market research firm estimates that spurious medicines account for around $150m of Bangladesh's total prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical market of around $1.16bn.

• The main channels for distribution of the substandard and counterfeit drugs seems to be the country's huge network of unlicensed pharmacies - which could number as many as 80,000 according to some estimates.

• "It is thought that these counterfeit products are produced in numerous drug factories situated along the Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese and Thailand borders," comments BMI in the report.

This criminal act now effectively impacts and entire country’s health and well being especially when many of the bogus drugs go beyond the traditional life style drugs and instead are basic antibiotics and life saving medications.

In Bangladesh counterfeit medications are now a deadly part of the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain.

The issue of adulterated, fraudulent and counterfeit drugs has transcended from individual criminal acts to a well organized industry that sells disease and death.

All members of the global pharmaceutical supply chain must protect their inventories and consumers from these bogus fakes by deploying anti-counterfeiting technologies and solutions.

To read the entire Securing Pharma story, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/588.php.

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

Leading Nigerian Official Fighting Drug Counterfeiters Survives Attack By Gunmen

Dr. Paul Orhii, the Director General of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), survives an attack on his life.

In a story which appeared in Afrique en Ligne, unknown gunmen attempted to kill Dr. Paul Orhii, the Director General of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

NAFDAC is charged with fighting the problem of counterfeit drugs in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country whose population is at the epicenter of the counterfeit drug trade and its impact as caused significant health care issues and death to consumers of bogus medications.

Dr. Orhii was attacked by unknown gunman in his car as he was returning from his village in northern Benue state to the capital city of Abuja.

According to the Afrique en Ligne story:

• A Mercedes Benz car in which four gunmen were riding pulled up next to the NAFDAC SUV that Orhii was riding in at Akwanga, along the Keff-Abuja road and one of the men in the sedan pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot at the Director General. The police escort behind Orhii's vehicle was able to ram the SUV, distracting the shooter. Policemen quickly jumped out of their vehicle to surround the gunmen’s car, however they were ordered not shoot to avoid killing innocent civilians, and the gunmen escaped.

• Orhii and NAFDAC are determined to put an end to the proliferation of fake drugs in Nigera and have declared war on importers and manufacturers of counterfeits.

• This is not the first attack on the life of a NADSAC representative in Nigeria. In August, a number of NAFDAC officials, in the process of confiscating goods from a fake drug dealer in Onueke, Ezza South Local Government Area, were attacked in the Ebonyi State by a mob of youths who were reportedly bribed by counterfeit drug dealers.

• An attempt on the life of the former NAFDAC boss, Professor Dora Akunyili, who is now the Minister of Information, was made in 2003 while returning from his village in southeastern Nigeria.

• Orhii recently appeared in a HDTV special with Dan Rather regarding his efforts to rid Nigeria of counterfeit drugs.

The huge profits from the criminal activity of counterfeit pharmaceuticals can dwarf the profitability of the trade of illicit drugs and this act has attracted violent organized gangs.

Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime of knock off purses or designer clothing perpetrated by individuals but a serious organized threat to consumers globally.

As violent criminal enterprises that trade in this deadly activity increases so to does the threat to consumers proliferate world wide. Counterfeit drug victims are not people who chose to take drugs from nefarious sources but do so because they have been duped, often with significant ramifications to their health and well being and very often with deadly consequences.

Dr. Orhii is a prominant leader in taking on these violent criminals in Nigeria and it is time that officials and industry leaders around the globe take similar action against these organizations that threaten entire unsuspecting populations with their bogus wares.

To read the entire Afrique en Ligne story, visit: http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/nigeria:-head-of-nigeria.

To learn about technologies used to fight counterfeit drugs, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

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/.

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/.

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.

SafeMedicines: Ukraine Shut Down 149 Illegal Pharmacies in First Half of 2010

Ukrainian officials shut down nearly 150 pharmacies in the first half of 2010 because they were suspected to be selling counterfeit drugs.

SafeMedicines.Org is blogging on a report from NRCU regarding an inspection of Ukrainian pharmacies conducted by Ukraine’s State Drugs Inspectorate. Following the inspections, 149 pharmacies within Ukraine were found not to meet requirements primarily due to substandard and counterfeit medicines and were shut down.

According to the NRCU report:

• About 20 percent of newly opened pharmacies had their licenses immediately revoked as soon as they were inspected.

• "Exactly those pharmacies are the potential and real sources of the spread of substandard and counterfeit medicines among the consumers", Inspectorate Chairman Oleksiy Soloviev said.

• The licensing procedures for new pharmacies were simplified in February of this year, causing a three-fold increase in the amount of pharmacies over the last eight months, according to the news source.

As adulterated, fraudulent and counterfeit medications continue to pour into the legitimate supply chain it becomes even more important for all members of the global pharmaceutical supply chain to deploy solutions and technologies to protect their inventories and the consumer from these deadly bogus drugs.

To read the SafeMedicines blog, visit: http://www.safemedicines.org/2010/09/ukraine-shut-down-149-illegal-pharmacies-in-first-half-of-2010.html.

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