Internet Pharmacies Target Academics

The BBC reports today that a fake drug scam has hijacked some UK college websites.  Online searches for drugs such as Viagra, Cialis etc would give search results which included the websites of academic institutions.  When the user clicked on these sites they were instead taken to online "pharmacy" sites where they were offered the medicines they had originally searched for.

I (and many others) have blogged about internet pharmacies before, but this is a cunning new angle.  By routing the search through the psychologically safer ground of an academic website, the criminals may perhaps fool the unwary into assuming some kind of endorsement of the online pharmacy. 

Internet pharmacies, with very few exceptions (probably not enough for a tetrapod to run out of digits when counting them) are very risky and dangerous. Do not be fooled by the search route, logos, associations or any claimed endorsements. Check everything thoroughly. VIPPS  is one of the few reliable quality schemes.

If you are trying to get prescription medicine online without a prescription then try using breath mints instead - much cheaper, less toxic, and just as efficaceous as whatever turns up in the post from the internet harmacy ("p" deliberately omitted).

Le Plus Ca Change...

...Le plus c'est la meme chose.  Today is the last day of the Florida anti-counterfeiting conference.  It has been well organised and attended by a good mix of interesting and senior people with a lot to say about counterfeit medicines. There have been new developments in tactical approaches to anti-counterfeiting which will make a difference in the detection of fake drugs. But, strategically-speaking, I feel as if I've seen this deja vu somewhere before.  In recent years things have not moved on at the pace that the increasing risk to patient safety warrants.

There are some noble exceptions.  Nigeria, for example, is doing great work.  Dr Paul Orhii, Director General of their drug regulator NAFDAC , gave a good insight into how his country is tackling the counterfeit threat using hand-held devices to differentiate real from fake drugs in the field.

The real quantum leap in approach will only come when a global, or at least multi-regional, approach is decided upon, authorised, funded and rolled out.  At the moment we are still in the realm of individual, relatively small pilot studies which show the potential of Technology X in a controlled environment.  We need to take a deep breath and implement a drug verification system on a wide scale, exposing it to the real world threats of criminal attack and realising that it may not be perfect first time.  Only by road-testing and refining such systems can we start to make a real difference.  The current drug traceability projects, though laudable, are the equivalent of learning to drive on a private road.  We know how to work the car, but we need to get used to traffic on the highway before we can go very far.

Google's VIPPS-Accreditation Requirement for Internet Pharmacy Advertisers

The US National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, as well as the Partnership for Safe Medicines and others, have welcomed Google's decision to require accreditation for internet pharmacies wishing to advertise on Google.

The VIPPS scheme for accreditation goes a long way to stamping out rogue pharmacies and Google's decision is a major step forward. It won't stop bogus phamacies appearing in search results, but it will stop them getting on the sponsored slots at the top and side of the screen.

My recent post on parallel universe issues applies here and we need to careful that criminals don't spoof the VIPPS online accreditation symbols. Nevertheless, this is a big step forward.