As long as there have been pharmaceuticals, there has been pharmaceutical crime. The Partnership for Safe Medicines is a coalition of patients, manufacturers, pharmacists, and distributors that all support greater awareness of the dangers of counterfeit medicine. The Pharmaceutical Crime podcast covers crime, raising the profile of the agencies that go after counterfeit criminals. We also cover policies, current and proposed, that might increase or decrease the danger of counterfeits. Learn ...
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Have you read the FTC's complaint about pharmacy benefit managers and insulin prices? Learn how PBM business practices hurt pharmacies and American patients.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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CBP published a summary of what they and agents with the FDA found in a week looking for fake medicines at the Port of Cincinnati. Let’s take a look at what they found.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Prescription Drug Affordability Boards (PDABs) has started popping up in states looking to establish upper payment limits on prescription drug prices. But will they also create barriers to medication access? Listen to PSM's Executive Director Shabbir Safdar and CEO of the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, Krystalyn Weaver's conversa…
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Listen to Mark Karhoff of Ten Count Consulting and PSM's Executive Director Shabbir Safdar explain the reasoning behind the FDA announced exemptions for connected trading partners and small dispensers as the agency approaches the full implementation of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Mexican border pharmacies have a long tradition of selling U.S. tourist fake medicine, and a recent Reuters piece shows that they're selling counterfeit Ozempic, too.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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When/how did counterfeit Botox turn into a full-blown public health emergency in the United States?The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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You would think injunctions and expensive settlements would stop black market HIV drug schemes, especially after some schemers were jailed. You would be wrong about that.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Don't inject yourself with anything bought via social media. That goes double for receiving injections from someone who bought them on the darkweb.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Patients are being harmed by compounded semaglutide, and dosing errors appear to be the culprit. That’s what the FDA said in a letter that the agency sent out at the end of July.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Pulmosil injections, a prescription drug used for ED treatment in India has been found to be contaminated with fungus. Fungal contamination introduced via injection is particularly dangerous.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Eli Lilly issued an open letter in June about counterfeit and poorly compounded versions of Mounjaro and Zepbound, its injected diabetes and obesity treatments. Watch to learn what Lilly said about the dangers to patients, and make sure that you and you loved ones are getting safe treatments.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Are you being inundated with cheap compounded "Ozempic" and other compounded weight loss drugs? Learn what the real issues are with compounded semaglutide.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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International Mail Facilities can now destroy refused devices valued at $2,500 or less instead of returning them to sender, just to have them sent back again. Counterfeit pill dies, fake diabetes test strips and other fakes now have harder time getting to US patients.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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PSM supports the CAST Act, which would create a federal crime for using a pill press to make counterfeit controlled pills.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Scammers are also using websites and social media to cash in on illicit sales of glp-1 agonists (the new generation of weight loss drugs) and the results are bad for your health and your bank balance.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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The report summarizes illicit drug threats and trafficking trends in the U.S., and includes discussions of counterfeit prescription pills made with fentanyl, methamphetamine and xylazine.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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A patient reported harm after buying "Ozempic" from TikTok.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Stopping overseas drug counterfeiters is expensive & time-consuming.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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In a recent interview in Glamour Magazine, a woman described what happened to her after she received a counterfeit Botox injection at a Manhattan spa. Her testimony is a reminder of exactly how dangerous black market Botox is. Watch, and learn more on our website, safemedicines.org.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Did you know fake Botox has been found in Mexico with English-language labels?The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Have you heard about Prescription Drug Affordability Boards in your state? What do their upper payment limits mean for you as a patient? Learn how you'll be affected by them in this engaging conversation between Krystalyn K. Weaver, the CEO of the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations and PSM's Executive Director.…
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Learn how DSCSA makes medicine recalls easier, cheaper, and safer for patients.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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DEA has creatd a web-page to all things pill press. Listen to learn more!The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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In March, the FDA warned six companies to stop selling unapproved over-the-counter topical pain relief products made with too much lidocaine. Learn more.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Boris Aminov, a leader in a HIV medication fraud scheme in New York, was sentenced to nine years in prison. Learn more about the case.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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In March, a Las Vegas man got 8 years for distributing at least 300 pounds of illegally imported tapentadol, an opioid painkiller, via his online storefront. He also sold steroids and prescription muscle relaxants, ADHD meds and more.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Has a patient ever come into your pharmacy with a perfectly good package of medicine and asked for a clean bottle or box? This is something pharmacists are seeing, and it might be worth paying closer attention to.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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In this emergency podcast recorded on Friday, April 21, former prosecutor Sam Louis, pharmaceutical wholesale and traceability expert Ron Bone, and PSM's executive director Shabbir Imber Safdar discuss what is likely happening in the case now, and talk about previous Botox cases. What are the investigators likely hunting for at this moment, and wha…
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In February, Alabama resident Sherri McCain agreed to plead guilty to mailing illegally imported prescription drugs like Xanax, gabapentin and tramadol. From 2017 to 2021 she accepted bulk packages of the drugs and reshipped them to buyers in 25 states.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Last month law enforcement in Delhi, India broke up a multi-million dollar counterfeit oncology drug ring that sold thousands of vials of fake cancer treatments that were actually filled with an anti-fungal. They sold the medicines to drugstores, patients and medical tourists in India but the fake medicines also reached China and the U.S.…
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On February 19 Safe Chain Solutions, LLC agreed to forfeit $2.7 million to settle a lawsuit with Gilead Sciences over the alleged distribution of secondhand HIV medicines to licensed U.S. pharmacies. GIlead named the company as part of a ring that sold 85,000 bottles of counterfeit HIV medicine to licensed U.S. pharmacies. Learn more about fake HIV…
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Patients don't know they risk their lives when they take supplements that contain actual medications not listed on the labels. Learn more.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Nashville officials warned of xyalzine threat. Learn more about this on our website at www.safemedicines.org.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Threat Alert: Medicine designed to mimic regulated pharmaceuticals for sale online at Etsy.com
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Etsy is an online marketplace that most people associate with vintage and handcrafted items. However, there is also a thriving trade in chemicals on the site, and some vendors sell homemade versions of highly regulated pharmaceuticals. They are sold with a thin veneer of plausible deniability in clear violation of Etsy's policies. When vendors list…
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Though it sounds great, the ways in which Prescription Drug Affordability Boards are operating have negative implications for patients, funding of 340B programs, pharmacies, and the safety of the supply chain. PSM's Shabbir Imber Safdar and CANN CEO Jen Laws go in depth to talk about what PDABs are, how the tools they have create unintended consequ…
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Listen to our congressional briefing panels! In May 2022, PSM joined experts for an online congressional briefing to discuss the implications of Canadian and foreign prescription drug importation proposals on our ongoing ability to protect the U.S. drug supply. Speakers: Shabbir Imber Safdar, Executive Director, PSM Dr. Kenneth McCall, Pharmacist &…
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Over the past decade, PBMs have been cutting the reimbursements pharmacies receive for the medicine they dispense to insured patients into smaller and smaller amounts. In many places, those reimbursements don’t fully cover the acquisition cost of medicine. Pharmacies now routinely dispense medication that they lose money on. This is by design. A ph…
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Arizona-based Nootropics Depot will pay a forfeiture of $2.4 million for selling a bunch of unapproved drugs, including tianeptine, an antidepressant that's not approved in the U.S. but shows up in supplements. In fact, nine states have banned tianeptine because it's addictive and caused seizures, loss of consciousness and death.…
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A federal grand jury in California indicted two men for their alleged roles in a darknet-based drug trafficking scheme that sold over 120,000 fentanyl pills and 20 pounds of methamphetamine to approximately 1400 customers in all 50 states. Two additional men, Rajiv Srinivasan and Michael Ta, pleaded guilty for their roles in the ring earlier this y…
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Another black market HIV case has been successfully prosecuted.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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On January 31, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that eBay had agreed to pay $59 million to settle allegations it had not followed recordkeeping and reporting requirements for the sale of pill presses and encapsulating machines that are specified in the Controlled Substances Act. The $59 million settlement is a signal to other online market…
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Why did more than 100 children across the country with treatable cancer suddenly spike high fevers? Some fell into comas. Four died. Learn more about this mystery in Colombia.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Senator Mike Braun, the ranking member on the Senate Special Committee on Aging released a report examining the four-fold increase in overdose deaths among Americans 65 and older over the last 20 years. The report recommended increased research into the problem, as well as specific outreach educating seniors about counterfeit medicines made with fe…
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A Chicago, Illinois man with diabetes had a seizure and went into a coma after injecting himself with an Ozempic pen that turned out to be a counterfeit filled with insulin.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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Hernandez sold millions in misbranded HIV drugs to U.S. pharmacies. His case illustrates how drug diversion operations work and why they are dangerous. For more information, visit safemedicines.org.The Partnership for Safe Medicines
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