Safe Medicines: True Crime and Medicine Safety

You would think injunctions and expensive settlements would stop black market HIV drug schemes, especially after some schemers were jailed. You would be wrong about that.

Don't inject yourself with anything bought via social media. That goes double for receiving injections from someone who bought them on the darkweb.

Patients are being harmed by compounded semaglutide, and dosing errors appear to be the culprit. That’s what the FDA said in a letter that the agency sent out at the end of July.

Pulmosil injections, a prescription drug used for ED treatment in India has been found to be contaminated with fungus. Fungal contamination introduced via injection is particularly dangerous.

Eli Lilly issued an open letter in June about counterfeit and poorly compounded versions of Mounjaro and Zepbound, its injected diabetes and obesity treatments. Watch to learn what Lilly said about the dangers to patients, and make sure that you and you loved ones are getting safe treatments.

Are you being inundated with cheap compounded "Ozempic" and other compounded weight loss drugs? Learn what the real issues are with compounded semaglutide.

International Mail Facilities can now destroy refused devices valued at $2,500 or less instead of returning them to sender, just to have them sent back again. Counterfeit pill dies, fake diabetes test strips and other fakes now have harder time getting to US patients.

PSM supports the CAST Act, which would create a federal crime for using a pill press to make counterfeit controlled pills. 

Scammers are also using websites and social media to cash in on illicit sales of glp-1 agonists (the new generation of weight loss drugs) and the results are bad for your health and your bank balance.

The report  summarizes illicit drug threats and trafficking trends in the U.S., and includes discussions of counterfeit prescription pills made with fentanyl, methamphetamine and xylazine.

A patient reported harm after buying "Ozempic" from TikTok. 

Stopping overseas drug counterfeiters is expensive & time-consuming.

In a recent interview in Glamour Magazine, a woman described what happened to her after she received a counterfeit Botox injection at a Manhattan spa. Her testimony is a reminder of exactly how dangerous black market Botox is. Watch, and learn more on our website, safemedicines.org.

Did you know fake Botox has been found in Mexico with English-language labels?

Have you heard about Prescription Drug Affordability Boards in your state?  What do their upper payment limits mean for you as a patient? Learn how you'll be affected by them in this engaging conversation between Krystalyn K. Weaver, the CEO of the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations and PSM's Executive Director.

Learn how DSCSA makes medicine recalls easier, cheaper, and safer for patients.

DEA has creatd a web-page to all things pill press. Listen to learn more!

In March, the FDA warned six companies to stop selling unapproved over-the-counter topical pain relief products made with too much lidocaine. Learn more.

Boris Aminov, a leader in a HIV medication fraud scheme in New York, was sentenced to nine years in prison. Learn more about the case.

In March, a Las Vegas man got 8 years for distributing at least 300 pounds of illegally imported tapentadol, an opioid painkiller, via his online storefront. He also sold steroids and prescription muscle relaxants, ADHD meds and more.

Has a patient ever come into your pharmacy with a perfectly good package of medicine and asked for a clean bottle or box? This is something pharmacists are seeing, and it might be worth paying closer attention to.

In this emergency podcast recorded on Friday, April 21, former prosecutor Sam Louis, pharmaceutical wholesale and traceability expert Ron Bone, and PSM's executive director Shabbir Imber Safdar discuss what is likely happening in the case now, and talk about previous Botox cases.   What are the investigators likely hunting for at this moment, and what are we likely to see next? 

In February, Alabama resident Sherri McCain agreed to plead guilty to mailing illegally imported prescription drugs like Xanax, gabapentin and tramadol. From 2017 to 2021 she accepted bulk packages of the drugs and reshipped them to buyers in 25 states.

Last month law enforcement in Delhi, India broke up a multi-million dollar counterfeit oncology drug ring that sold thousands of vials of fake cancer treatments that were actually filled with an anti-fungal. They sold the medicines to drugstores, patients and medical tourists in India but the fake medicines also reached China and the U.S.

On February 19 Safe Chain Solutions, LLC agreed to forfeit $2.7 million to settle a lawsuit with Gilead Sciences over the alleged distribution of secondhand HIV medicines to licensed U.S. pharmacies. GIlead named the company as part of a ring that sold 85,000 bottles of counterfeit HIV medicine to licensed U.S. pharmacies. Learn more about fake HIV meds.