Archive for 2017
Health Policy Expert: “Why Cheaper Drugs Can Kill”
Health policy expert Kenneth Thorpe weighs in on the dangers of drug importation in this August 23, 2017 editorial in U.S. News & World Report:
“…these savings could come at the cost of Americans’ lives. Legalizing drug importation would make it far easier for harmful counterfeit and contaminated medicines to enter the U.S. drug supply. At a time when illegal, counterfeit drugs already cause hundreds of American deaths every year, importation represents a reckless way to cut health care costs.”
[...]Deadly counterfeit pills in Louisiana
Deadly counterfeit pills in Louisiana This problem affects the whole country. Read more about the fake pill crisis.Since as early as 2015, drug traffickers have been selling North Americans counterfeit medications made from fentanyl, a dangerous painkiller 25-40 times stronger than heroin, and even stronger synthetic opioids like carfentanil. More recently, pill counterfeiters are using…
[...]Bioworld: Importation a cliché, not a CAPA
Mari Serebrov, the regulatory editor for biotechnology news site BioWorld, offered this opinion about drug importation on August 4, 2017.
“On the surface, importing drugs from Canada seems like a no-brainer,” she writes, “especially when the Canadian version is virtually the same drug as the one approved by the FDA for the U.S. market – except a whole lot cheaper. But there’s the rub. How can Congress ensure that drugs imported from Canada are all that they claim to be?
While more than 40 countries have or are implementing security measures to protect their drug supply chain, Canada’s not one of them, Brian Daleiden, vice president of industry marketing at Tracelink Inc., told BioWorld. That puts importation – from Canada, at least – on a collision course with the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), which Congress passed in 2013 as part of the Drug Quality and Security Act.”
[...]Physician: Sanders’ drug proposal comes with serious costs
The Daily Herald published this editorial by Dr. Terry Sellers about the shortcomings of drug importation as policy on July 25th, 2017. Sellers is a Utah-based physician specializing in addiction.
“… price is not the same as cost,” he writes, “In this case, cheaper prices will impose tremendous costs that would adversely affect the future of medicine for generations to come.”
[...]Former Director of the U.S. FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations Warns Against Allowing Drug Importation
More than 60,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine, caused one-fifth of those fatalities. Local law enforcement and health professionals are working at a feverish pace to prevent fatal overdoses, yet at the same time, some federal lawmakers have proposed legislation that would make it legal to import drugs that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration into the United States from questionable sources. Such legislation would provide a gateway for international criminal organizations to import counterfeit prescription drugs and deadly illegal opioids, including fentanyl…
[...]Update On Fentanyl in Georgia
Image courtesy of the Georgia Poison Center The August newsletter from the National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS) News describes how the Georgia Poison Center (GPC) played a crucial role in the early detection of deadly, fentanyl-laced fake Percocet in Georgia. NDEWS describes how a call from an emergency-room doctor triggered the process of identifying…
[...]Former Florida AG: Importing prescription drugs could worsen opioid crisis
Bill McCollum, former attorney general of Florida and member of Congress, wrote about the dangers of drug importation on August 8, 2017:
“Opening the door to increased prescription drug importation will just make it easier for smugglers to ship this dangerous opioid into the United States. For years, we have asked police officers and prosecutors to do more with less. There are few signs that austerity will end. Changing laws to encourage importation of drugs would only add to that burden.”
[...]Georgia Sheriff: Keep Dangerous Foreign Opioids Out Of Georgia
Terry W. Deese, Peach County, Georgia Sheriff and president of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, wrote this editorial for the Macon Telegraph. It was published on July 27, 2017.
“Georgia’s law-enforcement professionals and health officials are scurrying to stop the spread of these harmful pills. But in Washington, Congress may soon make it easier for counterfeit drugs like these — along with illicit prescription medicines — to enter the United States.
This effort doesn’t make any sense. Loosening restrictions on drug importation will worsen the opioid crisis.”
[...]Fake Pills Containing Fentanyl Kill Two In PA. Seller Sentenced To 18 Years
A 24-year-old Bucks County, PA woman will spend up to 18 years in jail for selling counterfeit pills containing synthetic opioids that ended up killing two people. The fake pills looked like Percocet but contained fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl…
[...]30,000 Counterfeit Pills Containing Fentanyl Seized in Arizona
As reported by Tucson News Now, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Tempe Police Department uncovered 30,000 counterfeit pills made with fentanyl during a traffic stop on August 13, 2017…
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