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On TV: :Dan Rather Investigates: Are the Prescription Drugs You Are Taking Real
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"Dan Rather Reports: The Mysterious Case of Kevin Xu" premieres on HDNet, Tuesday, September 14 at 8:00 p.m. ET with an encore at 11:00 p.m. ET.
"Dan Rather Reports" will present an investigation into the distribution of counterfeit drugs. These are not just lifestyle drugs like Viagra or Cialis, these are counterfeit versions of life saving drugs like Aricept, used for the treatment of Alzheimer's and Casodex, used to treat prostate cancer. This insidious crime is netting billions of dollars for criminals while, potentially robbing unsuspecting victims of something more important than money... their health.
To read the transcript click here
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The Current State of Supply Chain Security: An FDA Perspective by Rick Friedman
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Regulators and industry professionals are working together to implement new approaches to secure the drug supply chain. The US Food and Drug Administration has launched several initiatives recently to ensure the safety and integrity of pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products. In this interview, Richard L. Friedman, Director of the Division of Manufacturing & Product Quality in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA’s Office of Compliance discusses the progress made so far in executing these programs.
Click here to listen to the podcast.
In this interview he discusses the FDA's secure supply chain pilot and expresses the regulatory agency’s support of Rx-360’s efforts. The discussion on the FDA’s secure supply chain pilot punctuated Rx-360’s current efforts to bring regulators and industry professionals together to implement new approaches to secure the drug supply chain.
Pilot participants will consist of 100 firms that meet certain criteria, including that they have demonstrated robust controls from the time of manufacture of their material produced outside of the United States, through the entire supply chain, to importation into the United States. Mr. Friedman stated that to be selected for the pilot program a company will demonstrate the security of their supply chain by "knowing all of the parties involved and… [show] integrity is maintained at all those stops along the way.” He later on explains, ”you’re only as strong as your weakest link in the supply chain."
When asked about Rx-360, Mr. Friedman said "FDA is very much in favor of industry’s cooperative efforts, such as Rx-360..." He went on to state that, “anytime we see these kinds of collaborative approaches by industry, we’re very heartened by them." He stated that each manufacturer must justify their audit approaches, whether that means using a company’s own resources or a combination of that and an external party such as Rx-360.
When asked about new technologies and techniques to prevent counterfeiting, Mr. Friedman discussed the merits of Photographic Libraries, which was an idea developed and adopted by several Rx-360 members. To learn more about Photographic Libraries, read the article from the last Rx-360 newsletter by clicking here.
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“If symptoms persist”, a documentary on the counterfeit medicines crisis in Africa:
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CNBC: Crime Inc, Counterfeit Goods
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ABOUT THE SHOW
Fake handbags, watches, shoes, perfumes and even pharmaceuticals. The business of Counterfeit Goods is the largest underground industry in the world. Hundreds of billions of dollars are generated while sapping the economy, putting lives in jeopardy, and funding organized crime in the process.
CNBC’s "Crime Inc.: Counterfeit Goods," takes viewers on a rare look inside a global crime spree, where the goods are produced and confiscated in a world of high-risk and high-reward.
Host Carl Quintanilla takes you on raids with the LAPD anti-counterfeiting unit, inspections at ports, and back-room factories where counterfeits are produced. Meet a company whose whole brand was copied, and the story of a defense contractor who counterfeit defense parts that found their way into weapons depots in Iraq.
At around 7% of all global trade, Counterfeit Goods are a big business with low overhead. It makes too much money to go away any time soon.
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NBC Today Show: Can you spot a counterfeit?
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60 Minutes Exposes the Threat of Counterfeit Drugs in the USA
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(From CBS News) "There is a new front in the war on drugs, and it's not the kind of drugs you might think. We're not talking about cocaine, heroin or methamphetamines. This is about drugs that could wind up in your medicine cabinet: counterfeit prescription drugs, made with cheaper - sometimes even dangerous - ingredients such as highway paint, floor wax, and boric acid.
Criminal counterfeiters will go to any length to evade detection. We found a shadowy network of criminals with made-up names, constantly changing locations and lots and lots of money: an estimated $75 billion a year.
"60 Minutes" and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta got the chance to observe a surprise early morning raid in Lima, Peru. Some 200 police in riot gear stormed an indoor market. Their target: counterfeit prescription drugs. And they found them everywhere.
There were crude packaging machines and silk screens with imprints of actual name-brand drugs. Hundreds of thousands of counterfeit medicines collected from that raid were traced back to a house. Through a back door and down a narrow hallway we found a tiny, squalid patio that was actually a fake drug factory, turning out an astonishing number of counterfeit medications."
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Anti-counterfeiting Strategies
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The counterfeit drugs industry is said to be worth more than fifty billion dollars a year, but while many counterfeits are lifestyle drugs there is evidence that anti-malarial drugs are now being faked. Dr Alexander van Tulleken, a tropical disease specialist, follows the counterfeit trail and exposes a growing threat to global health.
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Counterfeit Medicine - Real Danger
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Watch this very graphic commercial on the consequences of taking counterfeit medications.
One in 10 UK men interviewed recently admitted to purchasing prescription-only medicines from unregulated sources, without a prescription. What they probably don’t know is that it’s estimated that between 50 and 90 per cent of medicines sold in this way have proven to be counterfeit which means they are taking a real gamble with their health.
The cinema commercial on this site portrays a man pulling a dead rat from his mouth after taking a counterfeit pill. This site allows you to view the commercial, learn more about the dangers of counterfeit drugs and share this information with friends and colleagues.
Click Here to Watch Video
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National Geographic
Illicit: The Dark Trade - Commentary
Click Here
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A new National Geographic Special, Illicit: The Dark Trade, is not just about smuggling or crime, it's about how these criminal networks are changing the world. Illicit trade has increasingly dangerous political consequences: money laundering, massive corruption and the subversion of entire governments. It is changing how we live in ways unrealized, and governments around the world seem powerless to stop it. Illicit trade is redefining economic relationships, borders and the role of workers, managers, armies and governments.
The National Geographic Special reveals how hidden criminal networks cost untold numbers of jobs, kill and maim thousands of people and breed violence and corruption. The film also focuses on the role technology plays in both enabling and disabling illicit trade, and raises questions about whether authorities have coherent strategies to combat this new phenomenon. In revealing how consumers are often themselves complicit in illegal trade, Illicit: The Dark Trade provides a timely look into a shadowy world that is relevant to viewers
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