Beware of Life Threatening Counterfeit Drugs from the Internet

Drug counterfeiting is more and more becoming a true mass activity and even a more massive problem. Not only for the regulation offices but also for ordinary people, who are buying pharmaceutical drugs online. Only in the last month cops found more than tousand containers with counterfeited drugs worldwide and more than 30 millions of counterfeited pills were found in Europe only. Scientists and analytics are comparing this activity with mass murdering.

Which types of drugs are mostly counterfeited? Especially antibiotics, antimalarial drugs and chemotherapeutical drugs are the main targets of counterfeiters. But there are also drugs against hypercholesterolemia, variety of analgesics and, of course, Viagra. Experts assume that most counterfeited drugs come from southeast Asia. Most of this drugs are usually available to buy via Internet. Most of this drugs are send to the buyer without the address of the sender, so that the counterfeiters can’t be found.

How dangerous are counterfeited drugs? This kind of drugs usually contain much lower concentrations of active substance than original ones and that’s not all. Some of them also contain dangerous chemicals which can even lead to the complications and death of the patient. Death because of the counterfeited drugs is not a rarity in these days. Some of the counterfeited pills come with original-look-alike blisters and packages and are hard to distinguish from the original ones, even for the pharmacists.

Is there s possibility to buy counterfeited drugs in drugstore/pharmacy? It’s almost impossible in most countries bt can still occur. But there weren’t many such cases in last 10 years.

How can I as a lay person identify counterfeited drugs? If the package is strange-looking or pills are only in some kind of phial, be careful, it could be a counterfeited material. It’s also strange and smells like counterfeiting if someone is trying to sell you prescription only medicine like Viagra.

About the Author:

Mark Hanselich, MPharm - I try to be as versatile as possible. I graduated in pharmacy, work as journalist, play soccer, have my own wine cellar and can communicate in six languages. I'm also personal development author and internet marketing specialist. Together with Mr. Daniel Maxoff I run the Website Anioc.com, dedicated to personal development, health and all the good things in our lives. You can also follow me on Twitter.