The Food and Drug Administration is cautioning consumers about dangers related to purchasing prescriptions over the Internet. This alert is being issued comes from data they collected showing that 24 apparently related Web sites may be responsible for the distribution of counterfeit prescriptions.
Three times during recent months, The Food And Drug Administration received data that counterfeit versions of Xenical 120 mg capsules, a drug manufactured by Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Roche), were purchased by 3 customers from two different Web sites. Xenical is an FDA-approved drug utilized to help overweight people that meet certain height and weight requirements lose weight and retain weight loss. None of the capsules ordered from the websites contained orlistat. This is the active ingredient in authentic Xenical.
In fact, laboratory analysis conducted by Roche and submitted to the FDA confirmed| the laboratory annalists at Roche conducted and submitted a report to the FDA confirming that one capsule contained sibutramine, which is the active ingredient in Meridia, an FDA-approved prescriptions manufactured by Abbott Laboratories. While this product is also used to lose weight and maintain that loss, it should not be used in specific patient profiles and therefore is not a substitute for other weight loss products.
Additionally, the drug interactions profile vary between Xenical and sibutramine, as is dosage frequency; sibutramine is administered once daily while Xenical three times a day. Other drugs bought from two of the Internet orders were composed of only contained only talc and starch. Roche stated, these samples were marked with a valid Roche lot number of B2306 and were labeled with an expiration date of April 2007. The correct expiration date for this lot number is actually March 2005. Roche identified the two involved in this scam as brandpills.com and pillspharm.com.
Further research by FDA disclosed that these websites are two of 24 websites that are posted on the pharmacycall365.com home page under ‘websites” heading. Four of these websites had been previously identified by Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations as related to the distribution of counterfeit Tamiflu and counterfeit Cialis.
At this point, it appears that these websites are operated from outside of the US. Consumers should be skeptical, if there is no way to contact the Web site pharmacy by telephone, if prices are dramatically lower than the competition, or if no prescription from your doctor is required. As a result, FDA strongly cautions the public regarding purchasing pharmaceuticals from any of these websites which may be involved in the distribution of fake drugs and continues to warn the public about buying prescription drugs online.
