Thursday, August 31, 2006
Prescription Drugs
FDA Finds Counterfeits Among Prescription Drugs
Ordered Through 10 Web Sites Affiliated With a Canadian
Pharmacy
Prescription drugs shipped to the U.S.
from Canada through certain Web sites operated by Manitoba-based Mediplan Prescription
Plus Pharmacy might be counterfeit and should not be used by U.S.
consumers because the medications might not be safe, FDA said on Wednesday, the Washington Times reports (Washington
Times, 8/31). Mediplan, which was founded in 1999, is one of the
largest Internet pharmacies in Canada and is "considered the first
Internet pharmacy," according to USA Today. FDA said agency testing found that
versions of 10 drugs that were ordered through Mediplan Web sites and
seized by U.S. officials during the past few weeks did not contain the
correct amounts of active ingredients. Some also were shipped from
countries other than Canada. The drugs are considered counterfeit because
they are marketed as brand-name products when they actually are not, FDA
said. The drugs -- which were ordered from RxNorth.com, Canadiandrugstore.com and other Web sites -- were sold as
Actonel, Arimidex, Crestor, Celebrex, Zetia, Diovan, Hyzaar, Lipitor,
Nexium and Propecia, FDA said. Randall Lutter, FDA associate commissioner
for policy and planning, said, "All of these products are intrinsically
deceitful." Lutter did not specify the amount of active ingredients in the
seized drugs or which countries they were shipped from (Appleby, USA
Today, 8/31). Prescription drug reimportation is illegal under U.S.
law. FDA has said it cannot guarantee the safety or efficacy of reimported
drugs, but the agency generally has not stopped U.S. residents from
ordering prescription drugs from abroad for personal use.
Canadian Reaction
Health Canada spokesperson Paul Duchesne
said, "Health Canada is aware of the issue. We are investigating, and if
there are any safety concerns, we will be sure to alert the public"
(Washington Times, 8/31). Mediplan founder Andrew Strempler
said, "We test our products and stand behind our products," adding that
Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia are the main sources of
medications sold on his company's Web sites. He said, "We were the first
to do this. So we've created quite a stir with the pharmaceutical
industry." Andy Troszok, immediate past president of the Canadian International Pharmacy
Association, said FDA "has tended to take the evidence and skew it in
a fashion to say Canadian pharmaceuticals are unsafe, which is completely
contrary to the evidence." Troszok added that CIPA takes "very seriously
any allegation of counterfeiting" and that Mediplan is a member in good
standing with the association. He said, "We'd like to see the evidence
behind the charges," adding that he could not comment further until he
learns more about the allegations (USA Today, 8/31).
Poll
About two-thirds of U.S. residents believe that a
federal law against the purchase of prescription drugs from Canada seeks
to protect the profits of pharmaceutical companies, compared with 9% who
believe that the law helps protect residents from potentially harmful
medications, according to a recent WSJ.com/Harris
Interactive poll, the Wall Street Journal Online reports.
The online poll surveyed 2,295 U.S. adults from Aug. 23 through Aug 25.
The poll finds that more than three-fourths of respondents agree that the
seizure of prescription drugs purchased from Canada jeopardized the health
of some U.S. residents, compared with 15% who disagree. In addition, 84%
of respondents believe that the federal government should allow the
purchase of prescription drugs from Canada, provided that the medication
have approval from Health Canada, compared with 9% who do not, according
to the poll. The poll also finds that Hispanic respondents and respondents
who live in the western U.S. are most likely to have purchased
prescription drugs from abroad and that black respondents and those who
live in the eastern or midwestern U.S. are least likely to have purchased
medications from abroad (Bright, Wall Street Journal Online,
8/31).