Medicine you can't trust

[[email protected]]

Los Angeles Times
Editorial
May 31, 2012

Medicine you can't trust

In some countries, 30% to 50% of medications are counterfeit. In the
U.S., the problem is still relatively rare, but growing.

When you take medicine, there's a good chance you're getting a dose of
modern global business practices as well. Eighty percent of the active
ingredients in the medications that Americans use are produced overseas.
In a single drug, it's quite possible that the individual components
came from several countries and were assembled in yet another before
arriving on U.S. shores.

This diffuse manufacturing operation increases the opportunities for
chicanery, which can include too-low amounts of active ingredients or
substitution of different ingredients as well as adulterated ones. In
some countries, 30% to 50% of medications are counterfeit — unlicensed
knockoffs or imitations of real drugs. A new study published in the June
2012 edition of the Lancet found that about a third of the anti-malaria
drugs administered in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were either
counterfeit or so poorly made that they were ineffective.

In the United States, the problem of counterfeit drugs is still
relatively rare, but growing. In February, a counterfeit version of the
cancer drug Avastin that contained none of the active ingredient was
purchased online by various medical groups that were ignorant of the
fakery. On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted a
warning about a counterfeit version of Adderall that contains
painkilling ingredients instead of those for attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder. During the last year there also have been cases
of counterfeit weight-loss drugs, anti-flu medications, Viagra, Vicodin
and morning-after pills. Most counterfeits are purchased online.

The FDA is responding with plans to globalize its own operations by
working out mutual inspection pacts with other nations and inspecting
imports based on the likelihood that a particular drug has been tampered
with. But the agency lacks the authority to adopt some sensible
measures. When it finds a batch of counterfeits, it cannot destroy the
medication without a lengthy legal procedure. Instead, most of the
counterfeits end up back at sea, and their makers get to try their luck
at other ports.

The FDA must be allowed to detain counterfeit pharmaceuticals until it
can take the required steps to have them destroyed. It also needs the
ability to require drug importers to track and trace all medications
throughout the manufacturing process. Finally, there should be tougher
sentencing for producing or selling phony drugs. At this point, FDA
Commissioner Margaret Hamburg points out, there are harsher penalties
for faking a designer purse than for faking a life-saving drug.

Parts of all three remedies are contained in two FDA reauthorization
bills. The Senate version passed last week and included a steep increase
in the penalty for counterfeiting drugs — to up to 20 years in prison or
a $4 million fine — but left the fate of track-and-trace authority
uncertain. The House version passed Wednesday. Congress should bring
back the tracking language as it reconciles the two versions, retaining
the strongest elements of both.

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/s...,2289154.story

[tedrosenberg]

On 6/1/2012 7:02 AM, [email protected] wrote:
> Los Angeles Times
> Editorial
> May 31, 2012
>
> Medicine you can't trust
>
> In some countries, 30% to 50% of medications are counterfeit. In the
> U.S., the problem is still relatively rare, but growing.
>
> When you take medicine, there's a good chance you're getting a dose of
> modern global business practices as well. Eighty percent of the active
> ingredients in the medications that Americans use are produced overseas.
> In a single drug, it's quite possible that the individual components
> came from several countries and were assembled in yet another before
> arriving on U.S. shores.
>
> This diffuse manufacturing operation increases the opportunities for
> chicanery, which can include too-low amounts of active ingredients or
> substitution of different ingredients as well as adulterated ones. In
> some countries, 30% to 50% of medications are counterfeit — unlicensed
> knockoffs or imitations of real drugs. A new study published in the June
> 2012 edition of the Lancet found that about a third of the anti-malaria
> drugs administered in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were either
> counterfeit or so poorly made that they were ineffective.
>
> In the United States, the problem of counterfeit drugs is still
> relatively rare, but growing. In February, a counterfeit version of the
> cancer drug Avastin that contained none of the active ingredient was
> purchased online by various medical groups that were ignorant of the
> fakery. On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted a
> warning about a counterfeit version of Adderall that contains
> painkilling ingredients instead of those for attention deficit
> hyperactivity disorder. During the last year there also have been cases
> of counterfeit weight-loss drugs, anti-flu medications, Viagra, Vicodin
> and morning-after pills. Most counterfeits are purchased online.
>
> The FDA is responding with plans to globalize its own operations by
> working out mutual inspection pacts with other nations and inspecting
> imports based on the likelihood that a particular drug has been tampered
> with. But the agency lacks the authority to adopt some sensible
> measures. When it finds a batch of counterfeits, it cannot destroy the
> medication without a lengthy legal procedure. Instead, most of the
> counterfeits end up back at sea, and their makers get to try their luck
> at other ports.
>
> The FDA must be allowed to detain counterfeit pharmaceuticals until it
> can take the required steps to have them destroyed. It also needs the
> ability to require drug importers to track and trace all medications
> throughout the manufacturing process. Finally, there should be tougher
> sentencing for producing or selling phony drugs. At this point, FDA
> Commissioner Margaret Hamburg points out, there are harsher penalties
> for faking a designer purse than for faking a life-saving drug.
>
> Parts of all three remedies are contained in two FDA reauthorization
> bills. The Senate version passed last week and included a steep increase
> in the penalty for counterfeiting drugs — to up to 20 years in prison or
> a $4 million fine — but left the fate of track-and-trace authority
> uncertain. The House version passed Wednesday. Congress should bring
> back the tracking language as it reconciles the two versions, retaining
> the strongest elements of both.
>
> Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
>
> http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/s...,2289154.story
>
alarmist bull****

Counterfeit meds are common in most third world countries, but well
under control in most developed countries. Most countries regulate
channel also. In the US, Internet sales are a source of phony meds,
and, since the US does not regulate channel, expensive drugs are always
at risk by the time the make it to the floor.,

In the EU, most meds are in blister packs with the drug name , dose, and
maker part of the packaging. In the US, the drug store puts everything
in plastic bottles, with a store produced lable. Almost a demand to
substitute phony drugs.

Despite the z"Arun in circlers, scream and shout" of the media,
manufacturing plants are not where phony ingredients come from. There
ARE rare occasions where plants have problems which are not caught
instantly, but it happens just as easily in Indiana as India.