10 Percent Neutral Buffered Formalin by Richard-Allan Scientific: Class I Recall – May Contain Incorrect Concentration of Formalin

This is a reprint of an FDA Alert. AUDIENCE: Risk Manager, Surgery, Emergency Medicine ISSUE: Richard-Allan Scientific discovered defective products returned from several customers were found to have from 0 percent to 3 percent Formalin content instead of the required 10 percent. A too-low or too high concentration of Formalin will not properly preserve or…

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Black Market Injectable Cosmetic Treatments, a Nationwide Problem

Between 2005 and 2013, there was one death and 11 other patients who required medical attention for disfigurement or serious illness as the result of receiving fake or misbranded cosmetic injectables while at a doctor’s office, clinic, or salon. Black Market Cosmetic Injectables in the U.S. 2005-2013 attempts to describe the scope of the problem.

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Computer Science Researchers Create an Automated System for Profiling Counterfeit Medication/Product Affiliate Networks

UC San Diego research team develops a system by which automated web crawling programs can identify spam-based sales websites and connect them to large affiliate networks. A 2014 paper by UC San Diego researchers Matthew Der, Lawrence K. Saul, Stefan Savage, and Geoffrey M. Voelker titled “Knock It Off: Profiling the Online Storefronts of Counterfeit…

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Counterfeit Drug Importation Charges Reinstated Against Prominent Wisconsin Pharmacist

Wisconsin pharmacist and former Wisconsin State Pharmacy Board member, Marla Ahlgrimm, and her alleged co-conspirator Balbir Bhogal are facing a renewed indictment from their 2010 counterfeit medication importation case. The pair are alleged to have imported more than 4 million fake pills into the United States to fill the orders for a Costa Rican online…

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Trio of Texans Indicted for Smuggling 100,000 Fake Pills into United States

3 Texas residents are alleged to have received more than 30 shipments of fake medications and acted as drop-shippers for a drug counterfeiting operation run from China. Counterfeit versions of painkillers and lifestyle drugs were among the seized fakes. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the indictment of three Texans on counterfeit drug and…

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Europol’s Operation Archimedes Targets Child Trafficking, Finds Fake Drug Factory

Links between counterfeit medication production and organized crime illuminated as European authorities discover counterfeit medication producing equipment in a Europe-wide breakup of a child-trafficking ring. Over 1,000 arrested and 30 trafficked children freed as part of Operation Archimedes. Europol has just announced the largest ever cooperated international law enforcement operation that targeted organized crime specializing…

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Texas Trio Charged With Counterfeit Drug Smuggling

Three Athens, Texas residents, Wanda Hollis, 63, Tom Giddens, 57, and Catherine Nix, 41 have been charged with one felony count of conspiracy to smuggle merchandise into the United States, seven counts of causing the introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead, seven counts of smuggling and one…

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In Operation Biyela 2, African Customs Agents Seize Over 113 Million Fake Medications

The World Customs Organization and the International Institute of Research Against Counterfeit Medicines joined forces in Africa to try and stem the tide of counterfeit drugs sweeping though African nations. With Operation Biyela 2 customs agents in 14 African countries have conducted seizures that paint a clearer picture of how counterfeit medication makes its way…

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