United Kingdom, Dec 7 - Senior EU policy makers are becoming increasingly concerned as further evidence suggests the region is awash with counterfeit medicines.
The illegal drugs frequently contain too much, too little or no active ingredient at all, or they may contain toxic substances, posing a risk to the lives of EU patients.
Counterfeit medicines pose a serious threat to EU citizens says the commission (Photo: www.freeimages.co.uk) On Monday (7 December), EU industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen said the extent of the problem is highly alarming.
“The number of counterfeit medicines arriving in Europe …is constantly growing. The European Commission is extremely worried,” he told the German newspaper Die Welt.
Read more here.
counterfeit medicines counterfeit medicines
Marvin D. Shepherd, PhD Shepherd
The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) has long reported on the growing issue of pharmaceutical spam advertising—and now SophosLab Canada has taken a closer look at the solicitation of counterfeit products online.
According to their new report, “The Partnerka: What Is it and Why Should You Care?,” one of the most influential counterfeit networks are the Russian partnerka, which are comprised of hundreds of well-organized spammer affiliate networks that fan out across the world—all working to drive as much traffic to partner sites (and stores) as possible.
And while today’s email services have anti-spam filters to help protect our inboxes, the Internet offers many other ways for the partnerka to peddle their counterfeits, including blogs, online forums and social networking sites.
In addition to buying advertisements on these platforms, spammers employ black hat search engine optimization methods to promote their Web sites and position them in front of Web users conducting searches on similar items. These techniques include creating Web sites that trick search engines into thinking they contain helpful content to Web searchers, as well posting spam messages on blogs, message boards and social networking sites—which are not subject to the same legal and technological requirements as their email counterparts.
As technology changes, so too do the tactics of unscrupulous counterfeit drug peddlers. The PSM reminds Web users to be wary of Web sites or Internet advertisements that promise cheap prescription drugs without physician authorization.
Read the rest of this article here.
counterfeit drugs counterfeit drugs
Have you ever received a hospital bill and wondered why the medications you were given during your stay seemed to cost more than the same medications purchased from your community pharmacy?
There are many reasons for that. First, patients who are treated in hospitals tend to be sicker, often requiring expensive and intensive therapy for critical conditions.
The medications you receive in a hospital are also accompanied by a heavy dose of round-the-clock expert care. A dedicated team of physicians and pharmacists continually monitors and adjusts your medications to help you get better.
This close attention to how your body reacts to all the medications you are receiving is an important part of hospital care. The prescription drug warfarin is an example of the importance of monitoring. Although this is an inexpensive blood thinner, hospital patients who take warfarin daily must be monitored by a pharmacist to make sure that their blood doesn’t get too thin. Likewise, nonprescription medicines like aspirin can cause real problems when paired with other medications while you are hospitalized.
Read the rest of this article on safe medication use.
safe medication safe medication
