Counterfeit Medicines Are a Problem in the European Union—A Problem that is Continuing to Grow

According to a report from Europol’s Intellectual Property Crime Threat Assessment 2019, “Counterfeit pharmaceuticals pose a growing threat to the EU, affecting a large number of Member States. A wide and increasingly diverse range of medicines is targeted by counterfeiters.”
The Europol ICP Threat Assessment reports that there has been an increase in seizures of counterfeit drugs used in the treatment of serious illnesses, as well as a growing number of counterfeit drug incidents affecting the legal drug supply chain. 

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Website Operators Warned by FDA/DEA Offered Antibiotics, Cancer & HIV Treatments in Addition to Misbranded Opioids

On September 30th, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a joint warning to four online networks that were operating a total of ten fake online pharmacy websites. While all four networks were offering misbranded/counterfeit opioid medications such as tramadol and Soma for sale, three of the online networks had marketplaces offering misbranded medications to treat a kaleidoscope of ailments, such as allergies, cancer, smoking, asthma, and infection.

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FDA Warns of Online H1N1 Influenza Virus Drug Product Purchases

FDA is alerting you to a use extreme caution when purchasing any medication over the Internet claiming to prevent or treat H1N1 influenza virus. Several orders of the H1N1 vaccine Tamiflu (oseltamivir) purchased from online pharmacies were found to be a health threat to consumers.

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Did You Ever Wonder Why People Buy Counterfeit Drugs?

Last month, the Wall Street Journal featured an article that discussed the efforts currently underway to deter people from buying counterfeit products. It pointed out that many anti-counterfeiting messages fail to address the underlying motivation which leads people to buy counterfeit products.

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