"Bad Medicine" An I-Team Investigation Part I
By Karen Hensel
24-Hour News 8 at 11:00 p.m.
Nov 2, 2007
Click here to watch a video of the news report - part 1
Click here to watch a video of the news report - part 2
An I-Team 8 investigation exposes an issue causing concern across the nation. In a six-month investigation, I-Team 8 gained unprecedented access by U.S. Customs and the FDA to uncover bad medicine.
You may think if you avoid buying drugs from the internet, you're protecting yourself. Well, think again.
Even the last prescription you picked up from the pharmacy could have counterfeit drugs. It has happened right here in Indianapolis.
In July, a 58-year-old woman died in Canada. She'd taken sleeping pills full of poison purchased from an online pharmacy. In a widely reported case, a St. Louis woman with breast cancer also died. A drug from the Cancer Clinic Nurse was counterfeit. And in Indianapolis at IU Medical Center a nurse discovered counterfeit epogen used to treat kidney and cancer patients just in time.
"It was out of the pharmacy, on the cart and about to go to patients," said Donna Wall a nurse at the Clinical Care Pharmacist in IU Medical Center.
I-Team 8 traveled to the country's four largest international mail and cargo facilities to find out just how big the counterfeit drug problem is. More than 475-million pieces of mail come through the JFK mail facility.
In the customs enforcement cage unapproved cialis was found and headed for Bloomington, Indiana. The real cialis is manufactured by Lilly in Indianapolis.
At the UPS hub in Louisville, I-Team 8 found counterfeit vitamins for babies going to Evansville, Chicago, Texas, and Indiana.
"We have 7,000 tablets of antibiotics, not meant for single use, meant for distribution. Whoever is ordering this intends to sell it to people here in the United States," said Rita Monfort with the FDA.
Would it be to individuals or to pharmacies? Monfort said, "It could be both."
FDA tests have found much more than wrong dosages. Some of the testing found lead paint used to paint the yellow lines. The FDA said there have been a number of ingredients used as binding agents in tablets.
Some counterfeits are so good, it's tough to tell the real drugs from the fake. So, what does the FDA do with all the drugs determined to be fake?
Monfort said,"It gets refused and sent back to sender."
I-Team 8 asked if they are just going to completely send it back out?
"It's possible and we have actually seen it. Those packages come back with our handwriting on the boxes," said Monfort.
An internal memo obtained by I-Team 8 shows the problem of counterfeit drugs has been documented for nearly four years.
It said, "senior FDA management is aware of the deterriorating situation at these mail facilities."
The FDA even requested permission from health and human services for "customs to deny entry of all these drugs."
It never happened, so counterfeit drugs are getting into the United States with little to no review or testing.
I-Team 8 took the issue directly to the top, the FDA Commissioner in Washington and asked why?
How concerned are you the counterfeits will get into a pharmacy? The FDA Commissioner said he was quite concerned.
I-Team 8 watched FDA inspectors at each of the four ports find counterfeit drugs and then have to return to sender. The FDA said by law we have to return the packages to the sender.
However, customs and border protection can seize and immediately destroy packages found to contain counterfeit drugs.
So, should the law be different? The FDA said, "That depends on the circumstances and what we're seeing is the circumstances are changing." So, for now the drugs continue to be returned to sender and your dollars stay in the pockets of the counterfeiters.
Customs agents told I-Team 8 off camera that they've actually destroyed some drugs instead of turning them over to the FDA because they know the FDA has to return them to sender.
On Friday, the I-Team 8 investigation "bad medicine" looks at one Indiana city encouraging employees to get drugs from a canadian website. Find out what a federal investigation has turned up, plus why doctors in the city became concerned for their patients.
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7300002
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