Archive for April 2008

Counterfeit and substandard medicines pose an increasing threat to global health, especially in the developing world. They kill hundreds of thousands–maybe millions–every year, undermine incentives for research and development for new drugs, and are even beginning to infiltrate North American markets. What can national governments and concerned individuals do to combat this growing menace? Nigeria…

CHANGZHOU, China (AP) – On a dusty lane in east China, a small factory sitting amid strawberry and vegetable fields processes chemicals from pig guts into heparin, a commonly used blood thinner linked to 62 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions in the U.S. and Germany. The mysterious problems with heparin from the factory and…

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…

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…

BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) — China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has listed on-line drug sales as a priority target this year and strengthening crackdowns on false advertising of drug products, according to the food and drug watchdog on Thursday. An SFDA spokesman said the authority would enhance its supervision over large and influential…

CHANGZHOU, China (AP) – On a dusty lane in east China, a small factory sitting amid strawberry and vegetable fields processes chemicals from pig guts into heparin, a commonly used blood thinner linked to 62 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions in the U.S. and Germany. The mysterious problems with heparin from the factory and…

A Shanghai court jailed a man two years for selling 14,030 fake Viagra tablets via the Internet on Thursday. He was also fined 150,000 yuan (21,428 U.S. dollars). Yu Bohuai, a general manager of a Shanghai chemical company, had been purchasing fake drugs from a person named Xu Dong in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province,…

LONDON, April 10, 2008-The usual perception of counterfeit medicines is an illegal copy of a finished medicine slipped into the supply chain by illicit manufacturers. But the reality is far more complex and individual components, including excipients, are also vulnerable to counterfeiting. That is one reason why the European arm of the International Pharmaceutical Excipients…

Measures will be introduced before the end of the year to better control the supply of ingredients for medicines, especially those produced by chemical firms that have crossed over into the drugs market, Yan Jiangying, spokeswoman for the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), said Tuesday. The image of China's pharmaceutical industry overseas has been…