BSTRACT: One has to be consciously aware of the medications they are taken as some may not even be the real McCoy. More and more counterfeit medicines are turning up even in one's own trusted pharmacy
CONTENT: I've never been one to take many prescribed or even over the counter medications. While I do have a few minor health problems, they have never been severe enough for me to race over to my doctor and get some kind of medication for the problem. I guess I have inherited my great-grandmother's attitude toward not only medications, but the medical profession in general.
My great-grandmother was a nurse, mid-wife, and was involved with the more natural and herbal approaches. She never took anything stronger than aspirin all her long life, and instead relied on her cornucopia of herb-lore knowledge, and while she may herself had medical problems, she lived to be 98 years old. Her attitude about doctors for the most part was that they were, well idiots, and that the more you stayed away from doctors, the healthier one was. The fact that she lived so long, could be considered living testimony that maybe she was right.
I remembered being told by my grandmother and mother, that on the few occasions that she was hospitalized for some medical malady, she never even took the medications that were recommended to her during her hospital stay. The typical scenario being that the nurse would come into her room, administer the medications and my great-grandmother would "take" them. A few seconds after the nurse would leave, she would pop out the medications she just "supposedly" swallowed.
With all that has been going on in the pharmaceutical world lately, maybe more and more of us today should have a real wary approach when taking medications, and, if one absolutely positively needs to take medications for any serious health issue, one should be a conscientious consumer and perhaps do their own research in taking medications.
One issue that has cropped up lately is the question as to whether the medications one is taking is in fact the real McCoy. In general, medications can be expensive, even for just one, and the cost of trying to be healthy can soar if one needs to take a number of medications. This is a true hardship especially not only for senior citizens who are on Social Security benefits, but for anyone who lives on a tight fixed income and must decide whether to spend their money on their medications or eat.
Instead of heading to their local pharmacy, many people looking for a cheaper alternative to their prescribed medications may resort to anyone of the on-line prescription websites. If one was to do a Google search and typed in the words "On-line Prescriptions" one comes up with the staggering results of 9,090,000 on-line prescription websites. Also, it's not only people that have a specific medication prescribed to them, but some people may decide to self-medicate themselves. By that I mean, if one has a known medical condition, may look up medications for their specific health issue, and pick out a medication that sounds good to them and decide to order on-line, as many of these on-line prescription websites don't even require a doctor's prescription. But how safe are these medications? And the better question to ask, are they indeed real to begin with?
The danger lies in the fact that one is truly taking their life and health in their own hands if one decides to buy prescriptions on-line just to save money since the majority of prescriptions one can buy on-line aren't even the real thing, that is they are more likely to be counterfeit. However, the more alarming fact is that not only are counterfeit medications showing up on the on-line websites, but in one's trusted pharmacy, and the results could prove fatal.
The counterfeit prescription drug market is nothing new but actually goes back several years, but is now increasing and on the rise. This counterfeit illegal market is an estimated $40 million dollar industry yearly worldwide. The so-called prescription medications that are counterfeit may indeed look like the real thing, but contain non of the true pharmaceutical ingredients of the real thing. Even a trained pharmacist might not be able to tell the difference between the real from the fake medication unless he conducted a chemical testing of the medication in question. (1)
Not only are the counterfeit medications made of inferior ingredients, they are often made with ingredients that can be downright lethal. Upon chemical analysis of these counterfeit medications, it had been discovered that such ingredients as boric acid, heavy metals, and road paint can be found in them. To give the medications that shiny surface appearance, floor wax had been used to coat the medications. (2)
I think it can be said that most people, however, would never think of resorting to an on-line medication website, but unfortunately, even going to one's tried and true pharmacist one can also be putting themselves at risk. More and more counterfeit medications are showing up in pharmacies worldwide. A case in point is in the article Counterfeit Drugs, Real Problems which relates where the son of Kevin Fagan, Tom, had to take a prescription after his liver transplant. Instead of helping him, Tom experienced only more excruciating pain each and every time he took the medication. The medication, bought at his pharmacist proved to be counterfeit.
Another danger with prescription medications also in evidence with the generic brands of medications, which while may not be counterfeit are far inferior to the brand name medication. Once again, people may think they are saving money by getting the generic equivalent of a medication but they too may be exposing themself to an inferior product that may prove ineffective to their health and medical needs.
In the news only a little while ago was the disclosure by the FDA that has investigated various laboratories that manufacture generic type medications and in particular two factories that are run by Ranbaxy Laboratories which is a company located in India and of which their generic medications are distributed worldwide and for all you know may be sold at your local pharmacy.
It should be noted that Ranbaxy is the manufacturer of some thirty generic drugs, from the antibiotic types such as Amoxicilin, Cephalexin (Keflex), cholesterol reducing medications such as the Fenofibrate group (Tricor, Antara) to diabetic medications (Metformin HCL). There is a full listing of the medications involved here Ranbaxy Manufactured Medications
The problem with these generic medications manufactured by such a pharmaceutical company as Ranbaxy is that the medications may be inferior in quality, that is may not be the full prescribed strength, and that the conditions that they are manufactured under do not meet the safety standards that the FDA has set forth. Some issues cited by the FDA is that there may be a cross-contamination of medications, that is batches of one kind of medication may be made shortly after the manufacture of another type of medication that is unrelated and that the processing of the medication is made without proper sterilization to insure the purity of the medication in question. In other words, one may think they are getting a cholesterol reducing medication, but may have traces of a diabetic type as well. (3)
I think the bottom line here, is that if you really must take medications, just beware of where you're getting them from. While you may think you are saving money by getting on-line prescriptions, you may be quite literally taking your health not to mention your life in your hands as chances are they are counterfeit. As far as getting one's medications in one's pharmacy, be consciously aware of what you are getting....is it a generic type or the more expensive brand label? One way to be able to check out what you're getting is to go to the Drugs.com Website At this website is a link for a Pill Identifier in which one can type in the name of their medication. Images can be provided for any medication according to it's strength and imprinted number that almost all medications have. This will tell you where the origin and manufacturer of the medication is from, whether from the major pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer to the generic brands that are manufactured by such laboratories Ranbaxy.
Articles About the Counterfeit Drug Trade
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=5796287&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=5796287&page=2 (1) (2)
Inferior Prescription Medications
http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/09/16/ranbaxy-fda-generic-markets-equity-cx_lal_0916markets39.html (3)
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