San Diego is in the Midst of a Deadly Counterfeit Pill Crisis, with 50 Confirmed Deaths Thus Far

U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer has issued a public safety warning concerning deadly counterfeit oxycodone pills in San Diego County. NBC San Diego reports, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office said border seizures, prosecutions and overdoses in San Diego County are on pace to reach all-time highs by the end of 2019. The Medical Examiner’s Office reports 50 confirmed fentanyl-related fatal overdoses so far this year, and says 28 more suspected cases are waiting to be confirmed.”

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Partnership for Safe Medicines Statement on Reckless and Politically-Motivated Federal Drug Importation Proposal

Partnership for Safe Medicines Statement on Reckless and Politically-Motivated Drug Importation Proposal Washington, D.C. (July 31, 2019) – Shabbir Safdar, executive director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, released the following statement in response to today’s announcement by HHS Secretary Alex Azar and FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless: “Less than a year and a half ago,…

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ASOP Canada and 14 Other Canadian Patient Organizations Raise Alarm with Canadian Minister of Health on U.S. Drug Importation Proposals

The Canadian branch of the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP), along with fourteen other Canadian patient advocacy organizations have written a letter to Canadian Health Minister, the Honorable Ginette Petitpas Taylor imploring her to prevent the United States from wiping out the Canadian prescription medication supply with their misguided importation proposals.

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Man Charged With Selling Fentanyl Pills That Killed Murray, Utah Woman

A Utah man has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the distribution of fentany pills.  A complaint filed on July 3 alleges that he distributed more than 10,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills made with fentanyl over the course of 2016, and that a woman in Murray, Utah died of fentanyl poisoning after taking pills he sold her.

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Things we learned from sending a Freedom of Information Act request to Florida’s healthcare agency implementing importation

PSM filed comments recently with the state of Florida’s healthcare agency that’s attempting to make the mess of Canadian drug importation work after the legislature passed it without any serious scrutiny. After we filed comments, we subsequently filed a request to see who else filed comments and we’re left now with more questions than answers.…

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Medical Device King Exec Takes a Plea Deal Instead of a Retrial; Gets 32 Months in Prison

Pharmalogical, Inc - screenshot from homepage, 2010

New York-based Pharmalogical, Inc. (d/b/a Medical Device King and Taranis Medical Corp.) grossed $17 million by misleading U.S. medical practices into believing they were buying FDA-approved products rather than “unapproved products imported through a series of unidentified middlemen in Turkey and elsewhere.” President William Scully, was convicted of these activities in 2015, but the conviction was vacated in 2017. In 2018, he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.

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