e-Profile Login and ID Quick Search
PSM Report Warns of Increased Counterfeit Drug Risk if US Imports Foreign Drugs
Approximately three million parcels of fraudulent medications – including fakes of arthritis, AIDS, and high cholesterol drug treatments – were seized in 2010 by United States Customs and Border Protection, according to a new report from the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM). The report, “A Risky Proposition: How Opening the U.S. to Foreign Medicines Poses a Risk to Chronically Ill Americans” (PDF) gives an overview of global counterfeit drug threats, and argues that importation of foreign drugs could make the US drug supply chain vulnerable to these threats. The report stresses the current concern over the growing number of Internet drug outlets that may provide “a global distribution channel for fake or tainted medicines, making it much easier for criminal drug rings to sell their ineffective and harmful products to unsuspecting American patients,” as noted in a PSM news release. Further, PSM illustrates that the impact of counterfeit drugs has been felt around the globe, and cites an example from a 2009 BBC News report revealing that 30,000 packs of counterfeit drugs, among them medications for cancer, heart conditions, and schizophrenia, were probably used by patients throughout England. While less than 1% of the US drug supply is thought to be counterfeit, “importation could make the U.S. market more susceptible to counterfeit and tainted medicines,” PSM argues in the report.
