Thieves Commandeer Pharmaceutical Delivery Truck and Abduct Driver

Police report of another pharmaceutical shipment hijacked by gunmen.

The Baltimore Sun reports on the story of a pharmaceutical delivery driver who was abducted December 13th while making his deliveries in Baltimore by thieves who made off with a truckload of drug products

Highlights from The Baltimore Sun article include:

• Police called the morning heist “incredibly thought-out,” and were looking for three suspects.

• The 55-year-old driver was forced at gunpoint into the back of his delivery truck and transported to an unknown location where the suspects unloaded about 80 crates of drug products.

• “The value of the drugs is significant,” said Baltimore Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, who said he could not place a dollar figure. “We believe the individuals responsible might have had knowledge about where and when the truck was going to be.”

• Guglielmi said police were in contact with the local FBI and DEA.

Clearly theft of prescription pharmaceuticals is proliferating given the high value and additional profitability of both the product and their packaging.

Organized criminal gangs are seizing the high profits and relative low risk in the criminal activity of pharmaceutical theft and drug counterfeiting.

The crime is has a double return to the criminal-prescription drugs are a valuable commodity and their packaging, used in the introduction of fraudulent, adulterated or counterfeit goods carries equal significance.

Members of the pharmaceutical supply chain must be on guard to protect their inventories from theft and fraudulent, adulterated, sub-standard and counterfeit drugs.

Consumers need to be made more aware of the prevalence and danger of bogus medications.

To read the entire Baltimore Sun article, visit: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2010/12/thieves_commandeer_pharmaceuti.html

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

Washington Post: Large International Smuggling Ring Planned Expansion to Counterfeit Drugs

The Washington Post reported on a large international counterfeiting ring, operating out of the Port of Baltimore which was recently indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Baltimore. Nine people were indicted in a scheme to bring bogus goods into the United States from Malaysia and China.

According to the story, this international counterfeiting ring smuggled tens of millions of dollars worth of fake Coach handbags, Nike sneakers, Gucci shoes and Cartier watches into the United States though the Port of Baltimore.

Authorities are reported as saying the ring had hoped to expand into the more lucrative counterfeit drug business and were seeking business partners in the Baltimore area in hopes of finding a market.

The indictments were the culmination of a two-year undercover investigation.

“This was not a mom-and-pop organization,” said John Morton, a U.S. Immigration and Customs assistant secretary, at a news conference announcing the indictments. “This was organized crime on a grand scale. Millions were made by crooks; millions were lost by legitimate U.S. companies.”

This is yet another example of the proliferation of counterfeit goods entering into legitimate supply chains that impact businesses and threatens the health and welfare of the consumer.

To read the Washington Post article, visit:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/maryland/federal-authorities-bust-inter.html

Doctor of Pharmacology Dies from Counterfeit Medication

In a sad and incredibly ironic story, a 29 year old with a doctorate in physiology and pharmacology, died recently after injecting herself with substandard buprenorphine. Buprenorphine, a drug used to treat addiction, had been purchased by the victim from an online pharmacy based in the Philippines.

Carrie John of Baltimore, a post graduate research fellow at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, died September 27 after diluting the drug in water from its original pill format and injecting the drug. John earlier this year co-authored and published a study on her research of "compulsions and habit formation”.

Buprenorphine is a narcotic known on the street as "bupe" and commonly used to treat heroin addiction. The woman and her boyfriend, also a post graduate researcher, apparently have been purchasing various narcotics for recreational use for the past two or three years from New Mikee Online Pharmacy, a Web site pharmaceutcal supplier based in the Philippines.

According to the boyfriend the couple used the pharmacy to buy not only buprenorphine but morphine, OxyContin and marijuana.

This terrible story is a cautionary tale to all about the evils of drug addiction and the real life danger of counterfeit, adulterated and fraudulent drugs. When a highly educated, pharmaceutical professional falls victim to both addiction and fraudulent drugs bought online, it begs the question as to what kind of risk average consumers face when drugs that are purchased online find their way into the legitimate drug supply.

To read the entire story, which appeared in the Baltimore Sun, follow the link:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.overdose30sep30,0,1002971.story

Baltimore Pharmacist Charged with Fraud in Counterfeit Drug Case

1,700 pounds of suspected counterfeit drugs was found in two Medicine Shoppes in Maryland last year - In addition, the owner is being charged with Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

A year ago we wrote regarding two Medicine Shoppes in the Maryland area that had been cited for having expired drugs on their shelves. This, however, does not even begin to tell the true story of expired drugs, counterfeit drugs, Medicare and Medicaid fraud, and the exportation of these drugs to Africa.

Pamela Arrey, a Maryland pharmacist, has most recently been charged with Medicare and Medicaid fraud. She is accused of charging about $350,000 to the federal insurance programs for drugs she never dispensed. In fact in some cases she billed for prescriptions the patients did not even request.

Last July, she was charged with mislabeling and selling counterfeit drugs when nearly 1,700 pounds of suspected counterefeit drugs were found at one of Arrey’s two Medicine Shoppes in Maryland. The durgs valued at $749,000, were medications to help epilepsy patients control seizures. Mislabeled, expired and suspected counterfeit drugs, including those designed to help fight breast cancer, were also found at Arrey’s second Baltimore Medicine Shoppe.

In August of last year, the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) issued a press release warning to consumers who purchased prescriptions from Arrey’s pharmacies that the following drugs could be expired or counterfeit:

* Lisinopril (20 milligrams)
* Guaifenesin/Dextromethorphan (600 mg and 1000 mg)
* Gabapentin (100 mg, 300 mg and 400 mg)
* Metoprolol (50 mg)
* Nifedipine (30 mg)
* Diclofenac Sodium (30 mg)
* Glucophage (500 mg Extended Release)
* Glucovance (125 mg and 500 mg)
* Glipizide/Metformin (2.50 mg/250 mg)
* Furosemide (20 mg)
* Tamoxifen Citrate (10 mg)
* Metformin HCl ER (500 mg)
* Calcitrol (0.25 micrograms)

“The health and safety of Arrey’s pharmacy customers has been put in danger as Arrey, through her pharmacies, dispensed misbranded and expired drugs,” FDA Special Agent Matthew Rosenberg wrote in a sworn statement.

For more on this story....

FDA says drug stores sold expired medications

The Medicine Shoppe, a subsidiary of Cardinal Health (one of the “Big Three Distributors”), sold expired or presumed fake prescriptions to their customers. Granted this was just two of their stores located in Baltimore, but it does make one wonder – How did this happen?

Especially troubling is that this may just be the beginning. In Europe, officials are seeing an upward trend of expired product simply being relabeled to appear good. It is estimated that 10% of medicines sold there are counterfeited or adulterated.

The Medicine Shoppe's suspect medications and the conditions they treat include:

• Lisinopril (20 milligrams) _ hypertension
• Guaifenesin/Dextromethorphan (600 mg and 1000 mg) _ cough
• Gabapentin (100 mg, 300 mg and 400 mg) _ epilepsy
• Metoprolol (50 mg) _ hypertension
• Nifedipine (30 mg) _ hypertension
• Diclofenac Sodium (30 mg) _ anti-inflammatory
• Glucophage (500 mg Extended Release) _ diabetes
• Glucovance (125 mg and 500 mg) _ diabetes
• Glipizide/Metformin (2.50 mg/250 mg) _ diabetes
• Furosemide (20 mg) _ diuretic
• Tamoxifen Citrate (10 mg) _ breast cancer
• Metformin HCl ER (500 mg) _ diabetes
• Calcitrol (0.25 micrograms) _ osteoporosis

It has long been assumed that if product was purchased straight from the manufacturer and/or one of the major distributors, that naturally, the medicine was pristine. However, these days that assumption, sadly, is no longer valid. This year alone, we have witnessed recalls from Baxter for adulterated heparin, Ranbaxy for counterfeit HIV medications, and NOW a major drug store chain for fake or expired prescriptions.

To view the full article from Associated Press, click here.


Consumers and health care professionals can report adverse events to the FDA's MedWatch program at 800-FDA-1088, by mail at MedWatch, HF-2, FDA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Md 20852-9787, or online at www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm.