\nAs you may know, Erectile Dysfunction drugs are some of the most widely counterfeited drugs in the world, a bona fide billion-dollar industry. In fact, some drug gangs and other criminals who used to sell illegal drugs such as cocaine have\u00a0switched to selling\u00a0counterfeit Viagra<\/a> because it is more lucrative. The average American really has no idea as to how prevalent counterfeit drugs are online.<\/p>\n
Big-Time Counterfeit Conviction in Dallas<\/strong> According to the Imperial Valley News,\u00a0an undercover\u00a0Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation proved that\u00a0the man used the internet to obtain and distribute counterfeit versions of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in\u00a0federal\u00a0prison, without parole,\u00a0a $250,000 fine, and other\u00a0great\u00a0benefits.<\/p>\n You should check out the article. This guy\u00a0sold about 2,500 pills to ICE agents and also\u00a0threw a\u00a0red flag in the laps of the\u00a0U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. He\u00a0sold Viagra for $1 per pill, Cialis for $1.20 and Levitra for $1.40. The wholesale<\/em> cost for each of the pills\u00a0is about 10 times that much.\u00a0 More About The FDA<\/strong> The FDA was not specific on how many resources it has dedicated to anti-counterfeiting, but it said it is focused on educating American consumers, as well as working “through diplomatic channels with China and India to ensure the inspection and closure of illegal laboratories abroad.”<\/p>\n Much of the counterfeit medication shipped into the U.S. comes from China and India. In fact, the 57-year-old Dallas man mentioned above bought his medications from China and discussed with his Chinese contacts how to avoid detection in the U.S. That worked out real well.<\/p>\n More Acronyms Than We Can Handle<\/strong> Suffice it to say, the FDA posts blatant warnings about the dangers of counterfeit drugs all over its website at FDA.gov. The\u00a0following passage regarding online medications was included in the materials they sent to us:<\/p>\n “Although some patients may receive genuine product, others may unknowingly receive counterfeit copies that contain inert or harmful ingredients, drugs that are expired and have been diverted to illegitimate resellers, or dangerous sub-potent or super-potent products that were improperly manufactured.\u00a0 There is no way to tell the difference without doing a resource-intensive, time-consuming, laboratory analysis of each shipment that comes to the U.S.”<\/p>\n The reason eDrugstore focuses on the dangers of counterfeit medications is to make consumers aware that counterfeit drugs are rampant on the internet, and that they can be dangerous<\/strong>. eDrugstore is based in the U.S. and does not import its products. We provide only brand-name, FDA-approved medications that are prescribed and filled by only U.S.-licensed doctors and pharmacists. Packages arrive with expiration dates and lot numbers that can be verified through the product manufacturers.<\/p>\n Send Us Your Comments<\/strong> Brian Bujdos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On behalf of eDrugstore, I\u00a0recently contacted the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA)\u00a0to request updated information about\u00a0their\u00a0anti-counterfeiting efforts, as well as\u00a0additional\u00a0updated information that can’t be\u00a0found on their website (apparently the Feds have cut back on web updates\u00a0in this area.) A\u00a0press officer\u00a0from the FDA was kind enough to respond to our inquiry, and\u00a0he forwarded about 2.5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-erectile-dysfunction"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\nAs fate would have it this week, a major\u00a0conviction\u00a0occurred in Dallas.\u00a0A 57-year-old man pleaded guilty to two federal offenses: conspiring to distribute counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and trafficking in pharmaceuticals bearing false labeling and counterfeit trademarks.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/blog\/files\/media\/image\/fda.jpg\")
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\n<\/strong>But, getting back to the FDA… The information they sent us says that their <\/strong>Office of Criminal Investigation (OCI) opens 32 to 54\u00a0cases per year that focus on counterfeit and other illegal drug operations<\/strong>. These investigations could revolve around an individual or “could involve multiple players and investigations.”<\/p>\n
\nThe FDA said that it works with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to use a risk-based approach\u00a0to assess\u00a0the products, addresses and countries of\u00a0packages that are coming into the U.S.\u00a0One of the morals of the story, apparently, is that any loosely run operation could have a\u00a0gaggle of\u00a0acronyms after\u00a0it, including the\u00a0ICE,\u00a0the CBP and the FDA’s OCI. Not all criminals are\u00a0caught,\u00a0but many are not LOL.\u00a0![\"\"](\"\/blog\/files\/media\/image\/dea_fda_moving_boxes_thumb.jpg\")
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\nWe are building a follow-up article\u00a0regarding counterfeit medications for\u00a0a May\u00a0release in the eDrugstore Research Section<\/a>. If you would like to have your comments included, please contact Brian Bujdos at marketing@eDrugstore.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n