FDA Warns Consumers Not to Buy or Use Prescription Drugs from Various Canadian Websites that Apparently Sell Counterfeit Products
The FDA Issued the Following Press Release Today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
P06-123
August 30, 2006
Media Inquiries:Catherine McDermott, 301-827-6242
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA
FDA Warns Consumers Not to Buy or Use Prescription Drugs
from Various Canadian Websites that Apparently Sell
Counterfeit Products
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is
advising consumers not to purchase prescription
drugs from websites that have orders filled by
Mediplan Prescription Plus Pharmacy or Mediplan
Global Health in Manitoba, Canada following reports
of counterfeit versions of prescription drug
products being sold by these companies to U.S.
consumers. FDA is investigating these reports and is
coordinating with international law enforcement
authorities on this matter.
FDA recommends that consumers who have purchased
drugs from these websites not use the products
because they may be unsafe. Laboratory analyses are
underway for intercepted product that was destined
for the U.S. market. Preliminary laboratory results
to date have found counterfeits of the following
drug products from these websites: Lipitor, Diovan,
Actonel, Nexium, Hyzaar, Ezetrol (known as Zetia in
the United States), Crestor, Celebrex, Arimidex, and
Propecia. All of these medications require a
prescription from a licensed health care provider to
be legally dispensed.
DRUG NAME / USE(S)
LIPITOR / Cholesterol disorders
CRESTOR / Cholesterol disorders
ZETIA (US name) / EZETROL (Canadian name) /
Cholesterol disorders
DIOVAN / High blood pressure
HYZAAR / High blood pressure
ACTONEL / Osteoporosis in postmenopausal women
NEXIUM / Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
CELEBREX / Arthritis-related pain
ARIMIDEX / Breast cancer
PROPECIA / Male-pattern baldness
Some of the websites that are operated by Mediplan
or that have order fulfillment through Mediplan are:
* www.RxNorth.com;
* www.Canadiandrugstore.com;
* www.Rxbyfax.com;
* www.Northcountryrx.com;
* www.Canada-pharmacy.com;
* www.My-canada-pharmacy.com;
* www.NLRX.com;
* www.Canampharmacy.com;
* www.Canada-Meds-For-Less.net; and
* www.Canadian-safe.com
As a general matter, FDA advises consumers to use
caution when buying medical products online.
Although a website may appear reputable and similar
to legitimate retail pharmacy websites, many
actually operate from outside the U.S. and provide
unapproved drugs from unreliable sources.
For example, in August of 2005, FDA conducted an
operation at New York, Miami, and Los Angeles
airports which found that nearly half of the
imported drugs FDA intercepted from four selected
countries were shipped to fill orders that consumers
believed they were placing with “Canadian
pharmacies.” Of the drugs being promoted as
“Canadian,” based on accompanying documentation, 85
percent actually came from 27 other countries around
the globe. A number of these products also were
found to be counterfeit. These results demonstrated
that some Internet sites that claimed to be
“Canadian” were, in fact, selling drugs of dubious
origin, safety and efficacy.
Today’s announcement is consistent with FDA’s
earlier message of the dangers posed by such
websites and the need for caution on behalf of the
public.
Drug counterfeiting is illegal for good reason. Drug
counterfeiting defrauds consumers and can expose
them to products containing unknown, ineffective, or
harmful ingredients. Counterfeit drugs may be toxic
or contain doses that are too small to treat a
medical condition, or so large that they could
endanger the health of the user. Because of the
dangers posed by counterfeit drugs, the FDA
aggressively investigates all instances of drug
counterfeiting.
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About The SafeMeds Alert System
The SafeMeds Alert System is a counterfeit alert
distribution service of the the Partnership for Safe
Medicines--a group of
organizations and individuals that have policies,
procedures, or programs to protect consumers from
counterfeit or contraband medicines.