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

USAID: Substandard and Counterfeit Drugs Found By Cooperative Aid Program

Fake Medications in Use in Public Hospital, Many Other Sites

In a press release from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), they announced that substandard and counterfeit versions of thirteen key anti-malarial medicines were uncovered in multiple locations across Ghana by the Medicines Quality Monitoring surveillance program.

Set up by the Ghana Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in collaboration with the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the program samples anti-malarials across the public and private sectors.

The program was established in 2008 and is implemented by USP's Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) initiative. USP is a scientific nonprofit organization that develops globally recognized standards for the quality of medicines. Through the PQM program, USP works in developing countries to help verify and improve the quality of medications intended to treat life-threatening neglected diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

"Few people fully realize the devastation that distribution of substandard or counterfeit medications can wreak on vulnerable populations," said Stephen Opuni, M.D., chief executive officer of the FDB. "In this case some of the drugs discovered contained no active pharmaceutical ingredient, while others failed to meet required quality standards. This causes great harm in two ways: the individual patients taking the drugs get no relief, and drug-resistant strains of malaria may grow stronger. In addition, people lose confidence in the efficacy of medicines and may be reluctant to seek medical help when they need it. I'm very pleased with the outcomes we're seeing from the Medicines Quality Monitoring program."

In 2009 the same program uncovered a counterfeit version of Novartis' Coartem®, another widely used anti-malarial. In that case, an alert citizen notified the authorities after suspecting the drug he bought might be fake.

"Last year's seizure of counterfeit drugs showed the importance of public education," said Patrick Lukulay, Ph.D., director of the PQM program. "In the current case, rigorous surveillance worked very well. The fact that the fake and poor quality drugs were so widespread—found in many areas across Ghana, and in many types of outlets—underscores the need not only for continuing surveillance but also for active enforcement of anti-counterfeiting laws."

The discovery of the counterfeits—tragically, in use at a government-run hospital and private clinic, and being distributed through many pharmacies—has resulted in a nationwide recall of all thirteen drugs, including publicizing the names of the outlets where they were found.

This is intended as a strong deterrent, making pharmacy and hospital procurement personnel more vigilant about their suppliers. Manufacturers of some of the recalled medications will be required to meet with the FDB for required regulatory sanctions.

Noted Dr. Lukulay, "It's important to keep in mind that all these fake and substandard medicines were found just in one round of post-market surveillance, just of anti-malarials. The existence of many more substandard and counterfeit medications for other types of medicines and in other locations and facilities must be assumed. Public education and official collaborations between public and private sectors are both essential to protecting public health here in Ghana and in many other developing nations."

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.

Secure Pharma Chain agrees with the conclusions of enhanced public education, more rigorous enforcement of laws and official collaborations between public and private standards as essential in combating this lethal crime.

The members of the global pharmaceutical supply chain (manufacturers, distributors and dispensers) need to take the lead on defeating this crime. Waiting for agencies and regulations is not an option, proactive deployment of solutions and technologies designed to interdict and protect inventories from fraudulent, adulterated, sub-standard and counterfeit medications by the commercial interests seemingly is the most effective and efficient way to eradicate this deadly epidemic.

To read the USAID press release, visit: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/substandard-and-counterfeit-antimalarial-drugs-in-ghana-discovered-by-cooperative-program-of-usp-ghana-food-and-drugs-board-106891733.html

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

Securing Pharma: Cambodian Study Finds Only 3% of Medicines are Counterfeit

Low figure compares to historical estimates of 4% to 90% in studies reported since 2000, according to the researchers.

Phil Taylor in an October 22nd post in Securing Pharma writes a blog about a recent study by Japanese researchers that shows a low percentage of counterfeits as it relates to past studies.

This research is significant because at face value the study paints a very different, more positive picture of the Cambodian pharmaceutical supply chain from previous studies which may lead to a false sense of the totality of the problem.

Highlights from the Securing Pharma post include:

• The results of a medicine sampling study in Cambodia reveals that just 3% of products were counterfeit, although between 5 and 9 % failed HPLC or dissolution-based quality testing.

• That relatively low figure compares to historical estimates of 4% to 90% in studies reported since 2000, according to the researchers, who were from Kanazawa and Nagasaki Universities in Japan and Cambodia's National Health Product Quality Control Center.

• A total of 710 samples of a wide range of commonly-used medicines were collected by the researchers in three tranches (in 2006, 2007 and 2008) at pharmacies and other forms of retail outlet in both rural and urban areas.

• A little over half (55%) of the samples collected had their packaging intact, but in 45% of cases it was open. Counterfeits were 20 times more likely to be encountered among open containers than closed one, were more likely to fail quality testing and were encountered more often in rural outlets, according to the researchers.

• Four of the counterfeits were labeled as originating from China, six were from India, two were from Malaysia and there was one each from Hong Kong, Cambodia and the UK.

Clearly the outcome of this research needs to be followed up given the apparent disparity between the results of this testing and what has been found in the past.

After one looks at the data however it would appear that although 3% were found to be specifically counterfeit there was a significant amount of issues with up to 9% of the sampling as to leave doubts to its efficacy. Simply put Cambodia has a huge health care issue as it relates to the safety of its pharmaceutical supply chain.

Adulterated, sub-standard, fraudulent and counterfeit drugs impact the health and safety of entire populations in developed and underdeveloped nations by poisoning the consumer, not properly treating diseases, creating drug resistant disease or at best scamming the patient out of his or her intended treatment.

Secure Pharma Chain encourages all within the pharmaceutical supply chain (regulatory agencies, manufacturers, distributors and dispensers) to use best procurement practices when purchasing their raw materials and inventories and to deploy technologies and solutions that will interdict these potentially lethal fakes from reaching the consumer.

To view Phil Taylor’s Securing Pharma article, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/624.php

To view the research published in Pharmaceutical Research, visit: http://www.springerlink.com/content/kj17835007x13471/

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

Eastern Europe Confronts Fake Medicines

“Fighting back counterfeiters can't be done by one country or by one organization, it calls for a synergy of efforts."

Eastern Europe is a key route in a multi-billion-dollar trade in often-dangerous counterfeit medicines that has grown exponentially on the Internet. Agence France-Presse reports on a meeting of more than 120 anti-counterfeit specialists from six Eastern European countries in Romania held recently. The meeting was an effort to bring experts together and collaborate in combating this deadly crime which impacts the health of entire populations.

Highlights from the Agence France-Presse story include:

• "There is an important Balkan route for fake medicines, which is the same as for heroin and other narcotics," Hungarian customs officer Karolyi Szep told AFP at the meeting called by the world's leading pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

• Such drugs can contain no active ingredients at all or 8,000 times the required amount, or heavy metals such as arsenic, lead-based paint, brick dust or floor wax -- content that poses major health risks and can lead to death.

• Today most of the sales are done via the Internet, which has multiplied the trade -- and the risks -- exponentially.

• According to the World Health Organization, one in two medicines sold online are fake.

• "People who buy medicines on the Internet are playing Russian roulette with their own lives," Steve Allen, senior director of Pfizer Global Security, told AFP.

• Allen said 63 million fake Pfizer tablets, vials and capsules as well as enough active ingredient to manufacture an additional 64 million have been seized worldwide since 2004. "But this is just the tip of the iceberg," he warned.

• “Fighting back counterfeiters can't be done by one country or by one organization, it calls for a synergy of efforts," he said. "We are dealing with organized crime gangs, there is no doubt about it."

• Considered a low-risk and high-reward business, counterfeit medicines have become increasingly alluring to narcotics smugglers.

• "Supply techniques are identical, but the punishment is not," Allen said, stressing that in certain countries manufacturing or selling fake medicines is not considered a crime.

• In one case of narcotics and fake medicines going hand in hand, Turkish police seized 6,000 counterfeit Viagra pills smuggled with 378,000 ecstasy tablets and enough ingredients to manufacture 51 kilogrammes (110 pounds) of heroin.

• The former Soviet bloc has made important progress in recent years in fighting counterfeit medicines, said Gabriel Turcu, a senior partner in leading European anti-counterfeiting network REACT.

• Most countries in the region have toughened legislation and some are even setting an example for their Western neighbors. In Romania, fake drugs smugglers have for the first time been sentenced to prison this year.

• "Years ago, judges would deem counterfeiting T-shirts or medicines was the same. Now their perception has changed," Turcu said.

• Calling for increased public awareness, experts and law enforcement authorities stressed that deaths caused by fake medicines are often attributed to natural causes.

Secure Pharma Chain encourages collaborations as an important step forward in fighting this deadly criminal act.

Working partnerships between regulatory agencies and industry along with public awareness and the deployment of technologies are the vital components to the “synergy of efforts” in ending the threat of counterfeit medications to consumers around the globe.

To read the entire Agence France-Presse story, visit: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/10/21/10/eastern-europe-confronts-fake-medicines-trade

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

U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka Funding Campaign to Combat Counterfeit Drugs

U.S. to host series of seminars to help various groups work together to protect Sri Lankan consumers from the dangers of counterfeit drugs.

According to the October 15th posting of The ColomboPage, Sri Lanka’s leading Internet newspaper, the United States Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka together with the Sri Lanka Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry (SLCPI), the National Intellectual Property Office and the American Chamber of Commerce, will be hosting a series of seminars across the country to show how pharmacists, doctors, and government officials how they can work together to protect Sri Lankan families against the dangers of counterfeit drugs.

The announcement was made from a press release from the U.S. Embassy. According to the press release:

• The first of the seminar series will be held on October 17 in Colombo with the participation of Sri Lanka's Minister of Health Maithripala Sirisena and U.S. Ambassador Patricia A. Butenis.

• Approximately 200 pharmacists, pharmacy owners, students, police, customs, and government health officials are expected to participate in the inaugural training, the Embassy said.

• Three more workshops are planned in Galle, Kandy, and Jaffna during the coming months.

• The program includes four workshops under the theme "Protecting Sri Lankan Families from Counterfeit Drugs." Each workshop will include a discussion of ways to safeguard intellectual property rights by registering and controlling genuine pharmaceuticals and medicines and enforcing the procedures established to do so.

• The U.S. Department of State is the principal sponsor of the campaign. The U.S. Embassy in Colombo and the SLCPI are also providing funds for this important program.

• The U.S. Embassy, the Pharmaceutical Chamber, AmCham and the NIPO have jointly developed the series of workshops to examine the problem of counterfeit drugs which can irreparably harm patients and even cause death.

Clearly this is a significant first step in the United States working with countries pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders in combating this deadly disease. Counterfeit drugs that are made in underdeveloped countries often end up imported into developed countries like the United States.

Recently it has been evident that the United States government is beginning a broad international campaign to work with countries against counterfeit goods and Intellectual Property crimes.

Secure Pharma Chain endorses these efforts but also encourages members of the pharmaceutical supply chain to deploy technologies and solutions to protect their inventories and their end user consumers from this deadly criminal act.

To read the entire article, visit: http://www.colombopage.com/

To learn more about anti-counterfeiting technologies, 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/.

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/.

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/.

SecuringPharma: Philippines Government Under Fire Over Counterfeit Medicines

As reported in SecuringPharma.com, a healthcare advocacy group in the Philippines is taking issue with the government's stance on counterfeit medicines, claiming that its policies are exacerbating the problem.

The advocacy group, Samahan Lavansa Pekeng Gamot, claims that percentage of fake drugs within the Phillipines is three times higher than the government claim of 10% according to a report in the Malay Business Insight.

According to the SecuringPharma story:

· Samahan claims that counterfeits make up around 60 billion pesos ($1.3bn) of the 200 billion peso Philippines pharmaceutical market, and that the situation is made worse by parallel imports of medicine and the actions of some of the government-run Biotika retail outlets.

· The 16,300 Biotika stores in the Philippines have problems restocking medicines from the Department of Health and this encourages them to source medicines from elsewhere, creating a potential entry point for counterfeits into the supply chain. They also tend to stock a wide range of medicines, despite only being supposed to offer a limited list of 42 essential medicines.

The Philippines is a classic example of a pharmaceutical supply chain whose members are not either properly regulated or commercially incentivized to protect its inventories and ultimately the consumers.

With a supply chain inundated with 10-30% of its medications that are fraudulent, adulterated, sub-standard or counterfeit the financial and human toll on the society and its healthcare system is immeasurable.

The deployment of a bundle of solutions and technologies, including material authentication within the supply chain is an easy solution to protect both the financial and physical well being of the population.

To read the entire SecuringPharma story, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/541.php

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

MHRA Press Release: £150,000 Fake Drug Stash Seized in Sting Operation

MHRA, the United Kingdom’s agency responsible medicines and medical devices work, released a press announcement regarding a large seizure of counterfeit, unlicensed medicines and controlled drugs in London on June 9th.

The following is the Press Release from MHRA:

Counterfeit and unlicensed medicines, along with controlled drugs to the street value of approximately £150,000, were seized by the MHRA yesterday as part of a simultaneous raid on six locations across London, and two in Yorkshire with the assistance of local police.

Six people in the UK believed to be linked to a gang in Asia were arrested in connection with the illegal sale and supply of a range of medicinal products, most of which are suspected to be counterfeit.

Information was initially passed to the MHRA by pharmaceutical manufacturers Pfizer, Lilly and Sanofi-Aventis.

MHRA Head of Intelligence Nimo Ahmed said, “Large boxes containing counterfeit and unlicensed medicines together with packaging, computers and cash were seized and the suspect medicines will now be sent to government laboratories to assess their authenticity.

“The products seized relate to treatment for depression, erectile dysfunction, as well as painkillers, sedatives and injectable anabolic steroids.

“At this stage it is suspected that these medicines would have been supplied illegally over the internet.”

Mr. Ahmed said people should be vigilant when buying medicines online and should only do so from registered websites that clearly display a contact name, number, the logo from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB), and from premises that are registered with the RPSGB. Buying medicines from unregistered websites is dangerous as people would not know what they are actually taking. The dosages could be either too high or too low, or worse, the tablet could contain harmful ingredients.

“Better still, the safest way to obtain Prescription Only Medicines is from a ‘bricks and mortar’ pharmacy following a consultation with a GP or a healthcare professional,” he said.

“Those involved in this type of criminality do not care about your health. They are only in it for one reason, and that is to make money.”

The MHRA are grateful for the assistance provided by the Metropolitan Police, West Yorkshire Police, South Yorkshire Police and the pharmaceutical manufacturers in this case.

This seizure is an excellent example of the continued proliferation of counterfeit medications within developed countries and sophisticated pharmaceutical supply chains. Since 2006 the MHRA has seized more than £6 million worth of counterfeit medicines.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog endorses continued regulation and enforcement related to fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medications and encourages all within the supply chain, including regulatory agencies to deploy solutions and technologies to protect their inventories and consumers from the deadly effects of this criminal act.

To read the entire Press Release on the MHRA website, visit: http://www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/Pressreleases/CON084731.

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

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.

Smithsonian.com: The Fatal Consequences of Counterfeit Drugs

In an excellent article written by Andrew Marshall, which appeared in the October 2009 issue of Smithsonian magazine, he discusses the very real and deadly impact that counterfeit drugs are making on the underdeveloped countries of Asia.

In his article, Marshall chronicles the issue, its causes and ways that officials are working to identify the perpetrators of this crime that is killing hundreds of thousands each year.

Various forensic technologies are currently being used in these areas but there are seemingly few interdiction solutions available to those in underdeveloped countries to catch these scurrilous fakes.

Currently there are various authentication technologies available which allow regulatory agencies, government officials and private industry to effectively identify and interdict fraudulent, adulterated, sub potent and counterfeit medications including EDXRD which allows the testing inside a products unit-of-sale container.

To view Andrew Marshall’s article, visit: www.smithsonianmag.com.

To learn more about EDXRD as a solution to counterfeit medications, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.

Drug Resistant Diseases Fueled by Counterfeit Medications Impact Developed Nations

As has been repeatedly discussed on this blog, drug resistant strains of diseases have evolved in underdeveloped countries by counterfeit medications that contain just enough of the active ingredient of the drug used to treat the disease to fool rudimentary analytical testing used to verify the drugs authenticity. Unfortunately these fake medications, with minor amounts of the real drug add injury to insult by not only not treating the disease but in creating drug resistant strains of the disease itself.

Until lately this issue has largely impact underdeveloped nations in Africa and Asia but as you can see by recent media reports and this article which appears in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, this phenomenon is now hitting US shores with drug resistant strains of Tuberculosis.

This problem of drug resistant strains in Africa kills thousands every day.
Developed and underdeveloped nations need to take action and utilize a variety of solutions to put an end to this issue which makes deadly diseases more sophisticated and deadlier.

Solutions such as XStream System’s, XT250 are able to do on-site, molecular screening of pharmaceuticals that can verify active ingredients, excipients and packaging to authenticate and verify medications inside their sealed, unit-of-sale container would drastically curtail the ability of counterfeiters to sell and distribute substandard medications in developed and underdeveloped nations.

To read the Star Tribune story visit: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/80160622.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUvDE7aL_V_BD77:DiiUiacyKUnciaec8O7EyUr.

To learn more about XStream Systems and its XT250, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.