US FDA finds
online sales of many Canadian drugs originating from
India, Israel, Costa Rica
Posted AtPharmaBiz
The United States Food and Drugs Administration
(US FDA) has found that nearly half of the imported
drugs the US FDA intercepted from four selected countries
including India were shipped to fill online orders that
consumers believed they were placing with Canadian pharmacies.
The US FDA has stated that of the drugs being promoted
as 'Canadian' 85 per cent actually came from 27 countries
around the globe. A number of these products also were
found to be counterfeit.
The US FDA operations were carried out in three major
US airports where all mail parcels suspected of containing
pharmaceuticals sent from four countries - India, Israel,
Costa Rica, and Vanuatu were examined. Out of nearly
4,000 parcels examined, almost 1,700 or about 43 per
cent had been ordered from 'Canadian' internet pharmacies
and were represented as being of Canadian origin, the
US FDA has stated.
Only 15 per cent of the Canadian drugs in the parcels
examined actually originated from Canada. The remaining
85 per cent were manufactured in 27 different countries.
In addition to having been falsely promoted as being
of Canadian origin, many of these drugs were not adequately
labelled in English to help assure safe and effective
use, noted the US FDA.
The US FDA has warned of appropriate action to keep
the counterfeit products out of the US drug supply and
pursue actions against those responsible for attempting
to defraud the American public.
"This operation suggests that drugs ordered from so-called
'Canadian' internet sites are not drugs of known safety
and efficacy," said Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, acting
commissioner, US FDA.
These results make clear there are internet sites that
claim to be Canadian that, in fact, are peddling drugs
of dubious origin, safety, and efficacy. These 'bait
and switch' tactics-offering patients one thing and
then providing the other are misleading patients and
are potentially harmful to the public health, the US
FDA stated.
December 20, 2005 |
