Archive for 2011
Police and Hospital Staff Arrested for Fake Drug Distribution in Argentina Conspiracy
The Argentinian Federal Police’s Technical Criminal Investigation division conducted 11 raids in the ongoing counterfeit medicine mafia investigation, including a large raid at the Posadas Hospital, in the greater Buenos Aires district of Haedo. Six people were arrested. Among those arrested were a former policeman linked to trafficking in ephedrine, while all have been implicated…
[...]Fake Over-the-Counter Drug Manufacturer Convicted in U.S. Court
On January 29, 2011, two Chinese nationals pled guilty to trafficking in over-the-counter weight-loss medications, including manufacture and distribution, in the United States, announced the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office (ICE), culminating a two year undercover investigation.
According to court documents, between December 2008 and March 2009, the FDA issued a series of alerts concerning tainted weight loss pills and counterfeit versions of the brand-name drug “Alli,” a popular over-the-counter weight-loss drug, indicating that these fake drugs were also being imported into the United States from China and that they did not contain the proper active pharmaceutical ingredient for the authentic product, but instead contained dangerous levels of Sibutramine. The counterfeit versions of Alli were being sold in the United States, among other ways, through internet websites, including online auction websites such as eBay. The FDA stated in these initial alerts that the items posed a very serious health risk to consumers, because, based on analysis, they were found to be drugs that contained undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients, including Sibutramine (a non-narcotic controlled substance), reports the ICE.
[...]Pharmacy Shelves
Pharmacy Shelvesby psyberartist via Flickr.
[...]Ghana Gears up for Drug Resistant Malaria
The World Health Organization’s international plea to contain artemisinin resistance is being heeded by Ghana’s government as it clamps down on fake malaria drug hawkers and increasing vigilance for first signs of the deadly disease. Dr. Felicia Owusu-Antwi, Country Advisor on Malaria for the WHO Ghana office said that while Ghana has no documented evidence…
[...]Law E, Youmans SL. Combating Counterfeit Medications: the California perspective. J. Pharm. Pract. 2011 Feb; 24(1):114-21
The production and distribution of counterfeit medications has become a significant global public health issue and though not as rampant in the United States as in other parts of the world, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has seen a 10-fold increase in the number of cases investigated. The purpose of this study was to…
[...]International Fake Drug Ring Arrest Made by New Zealand Authorities
A three year investigation into the international distribution of fake drugs led to the arrest of a 32 year old Chinese man residing in Wellington, NZ suspected of marketing counterfeit medicine using the internet. Auckland Metro Crime and Operations Support, a New Zealand police agency, announced they arrested the unnamed man and remanded him on…
[...]Counterfeit Cough Syrup Nabbed
Indian police in Patna have recovered 1,600 bottles of fake cough syrup from a parcel van in cross country transit.
[...]Kuzma J. Web Vulnerability Study of Online Pharmacy Sites. Inform Health Soc Care. 2011 Jan;36(1):20-34.
Abstract Consumers are increasingly using online pharmacies, but these sites may not provide an adequate level of security with the consumers' personal data. There is a gap in this research addressing the problems of security vulnerabilities in this industry. The objective is to identify the level of web application security vulnerabilities in online pharmacies and…
[...]Deadly Over-The-Counter Fake Drugs Distributed to Americans
On January 29, 2011, Shengyang Zhou, a Chinese national, and Qingming Hu, a naturalized US citizen, pled guilty to trafficking in over-the-counter weight-loss medications, including manufacture and distribution, in the United States, announced the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office (ICE), culminating a two year undercover investigation. These pills were distributed to Americans and many…
[...]Counterfeit Weight-loss Drug Smuggling leads to 2 Guilty Pleas and Serious Health Incident
View larger map Shengyang Zhou, aka “Tom,” 31, of Kunming, Yunnan, China pleaded guilty to charges of trafficking and attempting to traffic in counterfeit goods, namely counterfeit versions of the pharmaceutical weight-loss drug known as “Alli.” Naturalized American citizen, Qingming Hu, 61 of Plano, Texas, pleaded guilty Jan. 28 to distributing Sibutramine, a Schedule IV…
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