PSM Board President Dr. Marv Shepherd Explains the Dangers of Drug Importation

Dr. Shepherd was interviewed on a local Austin radio station and described for listeners the realities of the counterfeit medication economy, and the dangers U.S. citizens face from imported medication.

After William Scully, owner of the unlicensed pharmaceutical importer Medical Device King/Pharmalogical, was convicted on charges relating to his drug importation business, Bill Swail, host of the Austin radio program “Let’s Get Healthy” invited Dr. Marv Shepherd to come on the show and talk about the dangers of drug importation.

In his interview, Dr. Shepherd, when asked about the size of the global counterfeit drug economy said, “It’s huge! It’s a $200 billion industry. Most of the fake medication is coming through rogue websites, which are spread all over the world. [They are fake] even though they look legitimate and look like they are U.S. or Canadian.”

Dr. Shepherd also stated that the U.S. sees about 80 major drug counterfeiting cases a year.

On being asked about elected officials who are advocating drug importation, Dr. Shepherd said “There are some candidates for president and some legislators that want to legalize drug importation…with the U.S.’ closed system, we have a closed distribution system, we pretty much filter out all those bad types of products.”

Listen to Dr. Shepherd’s entire interview here (starting at 13:43).

Learn more about why drug counterfeiters use Canada as a marketing ploy.