Partnership for Safe Medicines Introduces First Consumer Counterfeit Drug Alert System
Posted on: Monday, 13 June 2005, 12:00 CDT
WASHINGTON, June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The Partnership for Safe Medicines, a coalition of patient, physician, pharmacist, university, industry and professional organizations, launched its new "SafeMeds Alert System," a free consumer service that will deliver email alerts about counterfeit drugs directly to Americans interested in making certain their prescription medicines are safe.
Until now, consumers with safety concerns about their prescription drugs had to actively track down information on fake drugs from government websites. The Partnership for Safe Medicines will monitor government counterfeit alerts and disseminate relevant information to the public as quickly as possible.
"Consumers are their own 'last line of defense' against counterfeit drugs," said Partnership advisor Bryan Liang, MD, PhD, JD who is executive director of the Institute of Health Law Studies at California Western School of Law and Co-Director, San Diego Center for Patient Safety at UCSD School of Medicine. "The SafeMeds Email Alert System gives families a critical tool to protect themselves against fakes."
Just last month, for example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted a warning on its Website about counterfeit versions of Lipitor, Viagra and an unapproved product promoted as "generic Evista" that were being sold at pharmacies in Mexican border towns. With the SafeMeds Alert System, this important drug safety information can be sent directly to consumers. Drug counterfeiting has become a worldwide problem and it has been increasing annually. It is estimated that eight to ten-percent of the worldwide pharmaceutical market is counterfeit.
Liang noted that the Partnership will only use drug alerts posted by official government bodies like the FDA and the Drug Enforcement Agency, although the Partnership will monitor a number of Websites worldwide to track developments related to the worldwide problem of counterfeit drugs. "The Partnership is trying to take the good work investigators are doing and help bring it to the public so that the information can reach the people who need to know the medicines they take are real and safe."
Registration for the SafeMeds Email Alert System is quick and easy at safemedicines.org. Consumers only need to enter name and email address. The safemedicines.org website also includes tips on how to tell if a prescription drug is counterfeit and the safest way to purchase affordable prescriptions.
About the Partnership for Safe Medicines
The Partnership for Safe Medicines is a coalition of patient, physician, pharmacist, university, industry and other professional organizations committed to the safety of prescription drugs and protecting consumers against unapproved, counterfeit, substandard, mishandled or otherwise unsafe medicines. For more information, visit us online at http://www.safemedicines.org/.
CONTACT: Jonathan Osmundsen, +1-202-339-0111, or josmundsen@ccapr.com, for the Partnership for Safe Medicines.
Partnership for Safe Medicines
CONTACT: Jonathan Osmundsen, +1-202-339-0111, or josmundsen@ccapr.com,for the Partnership for Safe Medicines
Web site: http://www.safemedicines.org/
Source: PRNewswire
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