Policy/Enforcement News
Online Pharmacy Owner Caught Selling Fake Drugs Out Of London Garage
An Uxbridge resident has pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit medicine online from a repair garage in northwest London. Saranjit Bhambra admitted to operating a website, www.keepithard.co.uk, that sold prescription erectile dysfunction medication without a prescription. He pleaded guilty on April 26, 2011, to one offense of selling medicinal products that contain ingredients found in medicines…
[...]200 Arrested in Fake Medicine Ring
Police in China’s Zhejiang Province arrested more than 200 suspects on May 25, 2011, for allegedly manufacturing and selling fake medicine and health care products. Over 1,000 police officers from the Jinhua Public Security Department raided 41 locations and arrested in total 263 people, mostly originally from Loudi, in Hunan Province, reported the China Business…
[...]Miami Woman Arrested for Fake Botox Injections
A Miami facialist has been arrested by police for allegedly perfoming unlicensed facial injections of counterfeit Botox that severely injured two people. Diana Marcela Cardenas-Gonzalez, 28, was charged on Tuesday, May 24th, of practicing medicine without a license, and practicing health care without a license causing injuries, reports NBC Miami. On September 26, 2010, in…
[...]Medicine Cargo Stolen in Tennessee
13,000 packages of a variety of generic medicines in approximately 400 cases were seized in a robbery from a tractor trailer parked in a secure yard in Jackson, TN on May 14, 2011. Securing Pharma reports that the stolen cargo included “cholesterol-lowering colestipol tablets, eplerenone tablets for heart failure, the antibiotics azithromycin and clindamycin in…
[...]Suspect Medicine Turns Up on Craigslist
The California State Board of Pharmacy announced an investigation into people illegally selling prescription drugs online after an ABC Eyewitness news exposé. Eyewitness News reported Craigslist.org users illegally selling prescription medications through the online classified advertisement service. Virgina Herold, Executive Office of the California State Board of Pharmacy said, “It’s unfortunate that Craigslist is now…
[...]Canadians Find Millions in Fake Drugs
Canadian Mounties seized more than 115,000 counterfeit pills during a raid at a Mississauga, Ontario, warehouse on May 13, 2011. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police estimates that value of drugs, combined with a stash of fake designer clothing, at $5 million Canadian, reports CNews. Mounties in British Columbia intercepted 15,000 fake erectile dysfunction pills packaged…
[...]Fake Antibiotics Found in Six States
The FDA has issued an alert warning American consumers to be on the look out for look-alike fake antibiotics. Dietary supplements purporting to have antibiotic or antifungal properties that actually contain no antimicrobial ingredients have been found in five states but may be found elsewhere in the US.
[...]Google planning to pay as much as $500mm to settle charges of advertising illegal online pharmacies
Paid advertising only 1/4th of the problem; rogue pharmacies still operate in email, social media, and organic search results
The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and many other news outlets are reporting that the US Attorney’s office of Rhode Island has developed an investigation into pharmaceutical advertising practices by Google that involve rogue online pharmacies advertising on the search giant. None of the articles mention the fact that illegal online pharmacies still show up in the organic search results.
“For years we have decried the ease with which rogue pharmacies preyed on consumers through search advertising,” said Dr. Bryan Liang, Vice President of the Partnership for Safe Medicines. “These rogue pharmacies have spent years developing their spam email campaigns, organic search rank, and most recently, their social media presences. Even after this settlement, they still pose a grave health threat to consumers.”
A recent study from NABP (National Association of the Boards of Pharmacy) found that 96% of the online pharmacies they screened online were not safe for consumers, demonstrating that the danger to consumers is still very pervasive.
Use of search advertising from Google, Yahoo!, and MSN has been a convenient way for rogue pharmacies all over the world to reach American consumers with their often deadly products. The problem came to light in 2001 when teenager Ryan Haight bought prescription drugs over the Internet without a prescription and subsequently died from an overdose. In 2004, all major online search engines adopted a third party verification service to screen out illegal pharmacies.
However subsequent research into online pharmacies by Dr. Liang and Tim Mackey identified purported verification services utilized by search engines were not filtering out illegal sellers. Further, independent entities Knujon and LegitScript later confirmed that the screening service was not keeping illegal pharmacies out, and that 80-90% of the ads being placed were from online pharmacies that violate state laws.
[...]Fake Anti-Malaria Medicine Spreads Malaria
Bright Ekweremadu, the Managing Director of the Society for Family Health (SFH) blames “rampant adulteration” of anti-malaria drugs for malaria rates in Nigeria.
[...]Supplement Maker Sentenced for Using Unapproved Drugs
An Idaho federal court sentenced a Vista, California nutritional supplement maker, Tribravus Enterprises, for the unlawful manufacture and distribution of unapproved synthetic steroids in over-the-counter pills marketed as “dietary supplements.”
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