28 Doctors in 10 Rhode Island Practices Investigated for Purchasing Misbranded IUDs

The Rhode Island Department of Health announced an investigation of 28 providers in 10 Rhode Island OB-GYN medical offices who had illegally imported non-FDA approved IUDs and inserted them into patients. Among the practices named were OB-GYN Associates, Inc, Bayside OB-GYN, Inc., and Center for Obstetrics & Gynecology, Inc. The Rhode Island Department of Health…

[...]

Handheld Device Fighting Counterfeit Drugs in Nigeria

While there is no silver bullet to solving the counterfeit drug problem, anti-counterfeiting technologies are showing promise. Earlier this spring, SecuringPharma reported that Thermo Fisher Scientific’s handheld TruScan spectrometers have been used in operations that have led to the seizure of more than 60,000 counterfeit medicines since being their deployment in Nigeria. Weighing less than…

[...]

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Vice President, June 22, 2010

REMARKS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT AND VICTORIA ESPINEL, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENFORCEMENT COORDINATOR, ON THE U.S. GOVERNMENT’S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENFORCEMENT STRATEGY Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C. 11:17 A.M. EDT THE VICE PRESIDENT: Welcome, everybody. We’re going to be relatively brief here. Thank you for being here. I’m going to ask Victoria, who was responsible for…

[...]

Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) Commends White House On Counterfeit Drug Provisions in U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Plan

Washington, D.C. (June 22, 2010) – Scott LaGanga, executive director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, released the following statement regarding today's rollout of a joint strategic plan by the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) that includes provisions to address counterfeit prescription drugs: "The report released today is both a step forward and a…

[...]

Video Excerpts from Briefing of Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property

The following excerpts of today’s White House briefing on the Joint Strategic Plan for Intellectual Property Enforcement are relevant to the problem of counterfeit drugs.   Vice President Biden clearly identifies the problem facing consumers and patients today. To learn more about our take on this announcement, see our press release. Vice President: “We need…

[...]

PSM Profiles the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies

In mid-May 2010, a collection of leaders in the pharmaceutical space joined to launch the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP), of which the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) is an educating party. We caught up with Libby Baney, an advisor at B&D Consulting who counsels the Alliance, to learn more about its mission. PSM:…

[...]

Chaubey SK, Sangla KS, Suthaharan EN, Tan YM. Severe Hypoglycaemia Associated with Ingesting Counterfeit Medication. Med J Aust. 2010;192(12):716-7.

Cross-border importation of traditional and prescription medications is common, and many of these drugs are not approved by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. Furthermore, counterfeit versions of prescription medications are also available (eg, weight-loss medications, anabolic steroids, and medications to enhance sexual performance). We describe a 54-year-old man with the first Australian case of severe…

[...]

FDA Alert Tamiflu

On June 17, 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released results of a purchase of supposed “generic Tamiflu” from an online pharmacy. According to the FDA, the pharmacy was likely an illegitimate operation, and the product was not Tamiflu, as it lacked its active ingredient. Full details from the FDA.

[...]

Microsoft and Yahoo Announce Changes to Online Advertising of Pharmaceuticals

The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) commends mainstream search engines Microsoft and Yahoo for their recent decision requiring U.S. pharmaceutical advertisers to be accredited by the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) program in order to advertise online. Google was the first engine to require pharmaceutical advertisers to be VIPPS-accredited, a move the PSM commended…

[...]

PSM Attends Panel on Intellectual Property Rights and Counterfeit Drugs

On May 27, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) held an event to address intellectual property (IP) rights, a discussion that extended to issues of counterfeit and substandard medicines in developing parts of the world. PSM Executive Director Scott LaGanga moderated a panel discussion with Sproxil’s Ashifi Gogo, Dr. Vishal Patel…

[...]