• ‘Cardinal made ‘third party’ returns to manufacturers on behalf of other wholesalers regardless of where the wholesaler had purchased the product… Such practices support the Diversion Market by giving unscrupulous customers an incentive to divert drugs and then ‘return’ them for full credit…’
In his December 26, 2006 press release, then Attorney General and now Governor Eliot Spitzer stated:
‘…Secondary market trading is not illegal on its face, but can create opportunities for the introduction of unreliable drugs, including counterfeits, into the marketplace. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of cases of counterfeit drugs in the American supply chain. Secondary market trading also can create an opportunity for companies to divert drugs from their intended distribution channels. Diversion into the secondary market, often to take improper advantage of manufacturer discounts, can begin a series of trades from wholesaler to wholesaler that makes it difficult to trace the origin of a drug and impossible to ascertain its authenticity.
The investigation determined that Cardinal purchased drugs from certain alternate source vendors, despite risks associated with buying from those vendors, to take advantage of higher available profit margins. Cardinal also sold pharmaceuticals to certain customers even in the face of evidence that those customers may have been illegally diverting the drugs outside their intended channels of distribution…’
So, if you were like me, and you assumed that these distribution channels and chains of custody were tightly controlled and regulated, you now see that there are ample windows of opportunity for fraudulent and adulterated prescription medications to enter the market and show up at your local pharmacy.
When I go to that local pharmacy, I stand in line five feet away from the customer being helped to ensure their privacy. I sign a HIPPA required statement stating that I have read these HIPPA requirements. I get child proof caps to protect my kids. And I sign away everything else for pseudoephedrine HCL.
Yet, the prescription I am taking may or may not be the medication I need, and may be making me sicker.
How good are my drugs? I don’t know.
Where did they come from? Who knows.
Article comments
1 - gette
And when you consider how drugs are railroaded through the FDA approval process...!
2 - sam
The reason pharmacies must now keep all pseudophedrine products behind their counters is federal legislation, it has nothing to do with pharmaceutical companies. The way you wrote your post, you make it sound as though these companies have control over pharmacies. Other than supplying drugs, they have absolutely no control in how things are stored or dealt out.
3 - Rick Vassar
This article does not have to do with either the pharmaceutical manufacturers or the pharmacies.
It's the lack of control and oversight as to where this drugs are bought and sold by wholesalers. Blurring the lines in the chain of custody allows for spoilage and adulteration to occur.
4 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Jack,
When dealing with the Sabbath and what may or may not be done, cutting pills apart (I have to split one of the pills I take) is considered "cutting vegetables or herbs" and therefore permitted.
I make this point not to bore you all about the rules of the Jewish Sabbath, but to drive home the point that most, if not all, "medicines" are concentrated versions of herbs.
Foxglove (digitalis) was used centuries ago to ease heart pain, for example.
All of us need to know what the hell we are ingesting. Just because some guy with an M.D. on his wall says "take this" does not mean we should just go along. Just because some Madison Avenue putz hustles Bromo-Seltzer for heartburn does not mean we should would the stuff down. Bromides can be addictive.
There are teas and infusions that can help with things like hay fever, Rick, that are a lot healthier than pseudoepinephrine, which raises your blood pressure, among other things.
This is a well written article. But I suggest that a diet heavy in water, uncooked fruits and veggies and light in meat is a lot healthier than whatever is the common diet in America these days.
Now to take my own advice...
"Sweetheart? Can you please pour me a glass of water?"