The World Health Organization released a report on February 25, 2011 that identified substandard anti-malarial medications as one third of all in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania. The rate of failure was highest in Nigeria, with 2 out of three samples failing WHO quality tests, reports The Science and Development Network. Following close…
Read MoreWashington, D.C. (February 25, 2011) – Partnership for Safe Medicines Board of Directors’ member Bryan A. Liang, MD, PhD, JD, with colleague Tim Mackey, MAS, published an article in this week’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) addressing the online direct to consumer (DTC) advertising market, and specifically how rogue online…
Read MoreA University College London organic chemistry lecturer was convicted for creating and selling counterfeit medication in the United Kingdom. The Independent reports that chemist Christiaan Winkel, a Dutch national, imported a machine from China and chemicals to make £1.6 million worth of fake erectile dysfunction pills and also used the equipment to make fake Ecstacy.…
Read MoreAt New York’s Kennedy Airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection flagged a cargo shipment from Hong Kong labeled “Farsan Sweet Dryfruit” for inspection on Thursday, February 17, 2011, and found approximately 20,000 pills inside. Fox News New York reported that officers examined the pills and identified them as counterfeit sildenafil, tadalfil and vardenafil. “The illicit…
Read MoreInternal documents from ChronoPay, Russia’s largest processor of online payments, have shown that a Russian rogue pharmacy program called Rx-Promotion sold millions of controlled pills including Valium, Percocet, Tramadol and Oxycodone, in 2010 alone, mostly to Americans, without prescription requirements. Reporter Brian Krebs interviewed Pavel Vrublevsky in February 2011, the founder of ChronoPay, and also…
Read MoreA new pharmaceutical spam campaign misappropriates Google branding to promote a “Google-accredited” online pharmacy portal. Symantec’s MessageLabs intelligence tracked spam email messages promoting online drug sales with a false claim that Google has hosted and approved the pharmacy sites. The link within the email directs to a spammer’s blog on a popular blogging portal,…
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has seen an increase in tainted products marketed as “all natural” or “100% herbal” that contain undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients that could potentially sicken consumers and counterfeit prescription medications that contain inappropriate ingredients or incorrect dosages.
In a news release, the CBP and FDA said that “counterfeiters have become more sophisticated in deceiving consumers. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to tell the real product from an imposter without sophisticated equipment. Counterfeit drugs may look exactly like real FDA-approved medicines, but their quality and safety are unknown. For example, counterfeit products could contain the wrong ingredients and/or varying amounts of the supposed active ingredient.”
Read MorePharmaceutical spammers have been using image hosting services to promote their products and one service has responded by giving its patrons a strong warning. Reports Brian Krebs, Image Shack has replaced the rogue pharmacy images with warning signs, including universal symbols for caution, poison and health hazards. In addition, they’ve replaced the spammers’ catch phrases…
Read MoreTestifying before the Croydon Crown Court in south London, Peter Gillespie, 64, admitted to aiding in the defrauding of pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacists and patients by selling counterfeit cancer drugs, heart disease medication and schizophrenia medication. However, Gillespie denies knowing the false origin of the medication supplied by a business associate he had known for 15…
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A federal grand jury has indicted five more people for conspiring to commit extortion under the pretense of being U.S. Food & Drug Administration agents. The false FDA agents allegedly threatened Americans, who had purchased drugs from offshore online pharmacies, with incarceration to extort up to $100,000.
The USFDA announced on February 7th that Jose Miguel Mercado Garcia, 29, of the Dominican Republic, Zulai Morales, 25, of the Dominican Republic, Ramona Pichardo, 51, of New York, New York, Maria Curet, 33, of Providence, Rhode Island, and Milton Goris, 32, of Miami, Florida were indicted. Ramon Pichard was arrested on February 10th, while the remaining defendants are at large.
According to the one count indictment, beginning on December 1, 2007, people claiming to represent pharmaceutical distributors located in the Dominican Republic called and emailed US residents offering to sell pharmaceutical drugs. Purchasers of those pharmaceutical drugs from the Dominican Republic distributors were then instructed to pay via either a money wire service or by credit card.
The indictment alleges that after paying, customers would then receive telephone calls from purported United States FDA agents, who in fact were not FDA agents. The false FDA agents allegedly falsely stated that the customers’ orders from the Dominican Republic had been interdicted, and that the customers now owed fines.
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