Archive for July 2008
Shabby Standards
Earlier this week, I talked about India's opposition to IMPACT's proposed definition of a counterfeit medicine. Indian "experts" claimed it would hurt their generic drug industry's exports, and I asked just who these "experts" were protecting if the IMPACT's focus was only non-legitimate producers.
[...]How to Assure Quality Drugs
Prof. Dora Akunyili, NAFDAC Director-General, says good distribution systems are imperative in ensuring the quality and identity of pharmaceutical products. She spoke Tuesday in Abuja at an interactive meeting between NAFDAC and state Directors of Pharmaceutical Services. 23 July 2008 Read the full story at thetidenews.com.
[...]Defining the Problem
Often understanding a problem begins with a definition. The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), meets each May to discuss public health issues and determine future WHO policies. This year, WHO's constituted International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) introduced a resolution to update WHO's definition of a counterfeit medicine. IMPACT proposed changing the definition from "deliberately and fraudulently" mislabeling a medicine's identity and source to the "false representation" of a medical product's identity, history or source.
[...]W. African States To Check Counterfeiting
A national dialogue to serve as a platform for discussing strategies to overcome counterfeiting and piracy of products in West Africa, opened in Accra yesterday. It is under the theme: "Protecting the consumer against counterfeit products through inter-agency and sub-regional collaboration". The main thrust of the dialogue is to ascertain concerns raised about the way…
[...]Defendant Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Trafficking in More Than $400,000 Worth of Counterfeit Drugs
WASHINGTON, July 17, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Iyad Dogmosh, a Jordanian national, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for trafficking in more than 38,000 counterfeit Viagra tablets, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein for the District of Maryland announced. U.S. District Judge…
[...]Who’s Accountable
Ryan Haight. Marcia Bergeron. They paid with their wallets for diverted and counterfeit drugs. They also paid with their lives.
[...]Fake Drugs – NAFDA Quizzes Indian Firm’s MD
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has begun the interrogation of the Managing Director of a Lagos-based company, Food and Pharma Limited, Mr. Nitin Kantilal, over the alleged importation of a fake anti-diarrhoeal drug, Maxcure Loperamide capsules. By Niyi Odebode17 July 2008 Read the full story at punchng.com.
[...]Fake Drugs Require More U.S. Policing, Pfizer’s Kindler Says
The proliferation of counterfeit drugs on the global market and easy availability via online pharmacies is an increasing problem. The makers of counterfeit drugs have enjoyed and profited from loopholes in a system designed to deliver healthy medicines to those in need. The rising cost of prescription medications and the ubiquitous presence of online and…
[...]US FDA accuses Ranbaxy Laboratories of fraud, concealment and selling substandard drugs
The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) has accused India's largest generics drug maker, Ranbaxy Laboratories, of forging and concealing documents relating to an investigation into the quality of the company's drugs sold in the US market and has filed a motion in the district court of Maryland seeking documents from the Indian…
[...]A prescription for strong medicine
The Internet is increasingly used as a virtual stand-in for the street-corner drug dealer. Highly addictive medications are just a mouse click away as rogue pharmacies take up residence online and are willing to supply drugs to anyone with a credit card. A just-released report found 85 percent of Web sites selling controlled substances do…
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