Archive for 2007
Drug Importation and Safety of Drugs Obtained from Canada
In this issue of The Annals, Veronin et al.1 discuss drug quality with a comparison of simvastatin tablets from the US and Canada obtained via the Internet. Using near-infrared spectroscopic imaging, the research found that generic simvastatin manufactured in Canada was comparable to the brand-name product made in the US. The objective was to determine…
[...]Bad Medicine in the Market
Counterfeit medicines are an insidious threat to global health, and the risks they pose have been largely underestimated to date. Apart from failing to cure disease, they can cause mental and physical damage–and even death. Fake drugs containing insufficient active ingredients breed resistance, which can make standard drugs useless. No area of the world is…
[...]Shepherd, M.* Drug Importation and Safety of Drugs Obtained from Canada. Ann Pharmacother. 2007;41:1288-1291.
Drug importation from Canada has been hotly debated for nearly a decade. Many believe that drug importation will bring needed competition and lower US drug prices. Opposition argues that the costs of ensuring product quality and safety, as well as added healthcare costs, will offset savings attained from imported pharmaceuticals. The US needs to become…
[...]Counterfeit medicines pass through Finland to world markets
Counterfeit versions of patent medicines are increasingly passing through Finland on their way to the world market. Last week, for instance, Finnish Customs confiscated a consignment of counterfeit impotence pills and diet drugs. The manufacturers of the genuine substances were notified. In the early part of the year Finish customs had confiscated about 140,000 doses…
[...]Counterfeit medicines pass through Finland to world markets
Counterfeit versions of patent medicines are increasingly passing through Finland on their way to the world market. Last week, for instance, Finnish Customs confiscated a consignment of counterfeit impotence pills and diet drugs. The manufacturers of the genuine substances were notified. In the early part of the year Finish customs had confiscated about 140,000 doses…
[...]Investigators find fake drugs in China
Medical investigators have found batches of a fake blood-boosting drug in northeastern China in the latest scandal to taint its pharmaceutical industry, state press reported yesterday. More than 2,000 bottles of fake human albumin were discovered in Jilin Province at 18 hospitals and 39 retail and wholesale drug outlets, China Central Television reported. 11 June…
[...]Nigeria: China’s Condemned Drugs Boss
A recent report from far away China may have unwittingly demonstrated how pervasive and pernicious the issue of drugs adulteration is around the world and also how different nations have chosen to react to the scourge. According to the report, a Chinese law court had been so disgusted with the illegal, unethical and murderous certification…
[...]Alarming number of counterfeit drugs reach patients
Drugs, even prescription drugs, can be dangerous. Millions of Americans take one or more pharmaceutical drugs every day and the pharmaceutical industry rakes in billions of dollars every year. Most of these drugs are as safe as they can be, and your pharmacist is a valuable gate-keeper that deals with the drug manufacturers, the insurance…
[...]Chinese gangs ‘behind fake drugs’
Trans-national ethnic Chinese gangs are behind the growing trade in counterfeit anti-malarial drugs in South East Asia, the BBC has been told. John Newton, a senior investigator with Interpol, said counterfeits are now starting to appear in Africa too. He said the gangs involved organised criminals working across national boundaries and faking the drugs on…
[...]Warning over fake batch of ‘lifesaving’ cancer medicine
Thousands of cancer patients have been warned to be on alert for a fake batch of a 'lifesaving' medicine. Drug regulators recalled a batch of the prostate cancer drug Casodex after the discovery of counterfeit tablets. A police investigation has been launched after a recent surge in the number of fake copies of key drugs…
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