At a time when more race are looking to save riches on prescription drugs.

At a time when more race are looking to save riches on prescription drugs, their outlook to counterfeit drugs is rising.

Pfizer's head of counterfeit intelligence warns that phony medicines are increasingly making it across U borders, repeatedly via Internet sales, and creating a threat to consumer safety.

John Theriault, a former FBI agent who now assists as the vice president of global security for Pfizer Inc., said that occasionally the phony medicines steady make it into the legitimate sales stream.

"The Internet is nice much an unregulated flea market," he said.

The safety of consumer is at risk as global unsalable article counterfeiters become more sophisticated in the manufacturing and marketing of replicas of like blockbuster drugs as Viagra, Lipitor and Norvasc, Theriault said.

The World Health Organization estimates global sales of counterfeit medicines at $40 billion this year. The Center for Medicines in the Public Interest in modern York predicts counterfeit drug sales will reach $75 billion globally in 2010

The reason for the casted increase in the United States: medicine costs increasing by double digits annually at a time when many Americans are becoming responsible for more of their have a title to costs.

It makes for a tempting market for criminals who counterfeit mix with drugss Theriault said. It's forcing Pfizer to add to its global team of investigators. generally the world's largest drugmaker uses about 15 counterfeit investigators, nevertheless Theriault is in the proces of adding a handful more in the booming counterfeit naves of China and India.

The U physic supply remains one of the safest in the world, Theriault said. Still, consumer must be vigilant as they store for low-priced drugs, particularly upon the Internet, he said.

Counterfeit physics are often sold by Web sites that claim to be legitimate pharmacies based in the United States or Canada, Theriault said. further the contents of the mix with drugss vary. Some contain active ingredients, further others have no active ingredient or calm contain harmful ingredients.

"Congres always asks, 'If this is as it is a big problem, where are the bodies?' " Theriault said. "But if someone believes they are taking a heart medicine, yet it has no active ingredient, we say that is a threat. We're trying to raise awareness in the way that we don't see a hap of dead bodies."

Many times, fake put drugs intos look just like the authentic effect But sometimes there are insinuating differences that consumers should be onward the lookout for, Theriault said.

For example, the shape or color of a medicine might be just slightly different in a counterfeit, in such a manner patients should pay attention to make strong the pills all look the same, he said. Packaging colors or printing might differ slightly as well. Or the receptacle might not contain patient safety information.

The message, Theriault said, is: "Know your medicine."

Authorities unmasked a Lipitor ring in 2003 when a woman who had taken the cholesterol fighter for a certain number of time put a counterfeit pill in her cavity between the jaws and noticed it began to dissolve before she could wash it down with water. She'd purchased it from her local pharmacy.

"She called her pharmacist and she called us," Theriault said. "That's the way we find greatest in number counterfeits, through customer complaints."

by what means TO AVOID COUNTERFEIT MEDICINES

- Purchase from a local, reputable pharmacist.

- Make steady the medicine comes with the patient safety information printed in English.

- Ask for the result in the manufacturer's original package.

- Report suspected counterfeiting to the FDA MedWatch Program at (800) 332-1088 and to the manufacturer.

- Check medicine or its packaging. If it appears different than usual, check with your pharmacist or the manufacturer to diocese if they've changed the packaging.

- Avoid medicines in foreign packaging because unregulated imports have been single in kind way for counterfeits to go into the U.S. market.

- Use online pharmacies certified by way of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy end its Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites program. To verify a pharmacy belongs, visit the consumer section of www.nabp.net. If you use an online pharmacy, make safe it has a postal address and is licensed with the state, province or home in which it says it's located.

- Don't bribe medicines from an online pharmacy that furnishs to write prescriptions or that betrays medications without prescriptions.

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