Big Pharmaceutical Company, Pfizer, Warns Against Fake Viagra

Pfizer Inc., the maker of Viagra, and another pharmacy standards team are gathering in order to warn customers about the risks of prescription medicines that are counterfeit. These drugs pose a major threat to the pharmaceutical giant and other legitimate drug makers. Pfizer Inc., with the impotence pill Viagra, is one of the most counterfeited drugs on the market. Last Thursday the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy said that they are going to start of an educational campaign to bring awareness about the dangers of counterfeit drugs. They say the want to help people find legitimate pharmacies that are online.

This educational campaign effort includes a website where they have video series on a new YouTube channel called "spot fake meds". They explain how counterfeiters take over websites in order to sell knock-offs of Pfizer medicines such as Viagra. The videos show how counterfeit drugs can be very dangerous because who knows what kind of toxins they are made with. Pfizer has said that they confiscated knock offs that contained lead and even rat poison. They are also worried that the drugs can have the wrong amounts of an active ingredient in them. As well, they claim that they are worried about the people who buy medicines from illegal online pharmacies because they run a high level of identify theft and financial fraud if they provide credit card numbers or other sensitive personal information.

Pfizer, based in New York, is the world's largest money making drug maker with profits running into the billions. Naturally counterfeit versions of their drugs poses a threat. So far Viagra has been sold in at least 101 countries for a fraction of the cost. Fake versions of at least 40 Pfizer products have been detected in those countries, including cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the painkiller Celebrex, Alzheimer's treatment Aricept, blood-pressure drug Norvasc, antidepressant Zoloft, and Viagra for erectile dysfunction. The estimated worldwide sales of counterfeit medicines was well over $75 billion last year which burns Pfizer's britches. According to the World Health Organization, sales of counterfeit Pfizer drugs have gone up about 90% since 2005. Meanwhile, one in six Americans bought medicines from online pharmacies last year which is not something big pharmaceutical corporations will tolerate.
When Pfizer representatives bought Viagra from the websites they found after performing an online search, all 26 websites that it tried were operating illegally and they claim that four out of five were selling fake Viagra. The national pharmacy group says that they recently reviewed more than 8,000 websites selling prescription drugs and claimed that 96 percent of them "appeared" to not be following pharmacy laws or standards for practice. At the time of this writing, it is not clear if those laws they are talking about apply to other countries.

Posted by David Water Read more Comments (3) 21.10.2011

Medical Marijuana For Cancer Patients

Much research has been conducted about the uses of medical cannabis and how it can help those suffering from severe illnesses such as cancer. Lung, colon, breast, and most other types of cancer start in the same way. Something causes damaged cells to divide and grow while spreading. Eventually those cells start to invade healthy cells and forms tumors in most instances. Typically cancer is treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, however often this does

Posted by David Water Read more Comments (3) 21.10.2011

New Research Says Diabetics Have Higher Risk For Colon Cancer

The researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, posted review of new research that confirms people with diabetes have an increased risk of colon cancer. This should come as no surprise since diabetics have an increased risk of anything. This is not really some sort of medical science break through, however the study was just published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology last week. The authors noted that according to their findings, that a person

Posted by David Water Read more Comments (3) 21.10.2011

Asbestos Cancer – Mesothelioma & Who Is At Most Risk

Millions of workers have been exposed to asbestos, especially during the WWII era. Asbestos dust is a very dangerous and has been a major factor for the development of mesothelioma cancer. Because of how asbestos was being used in the early 20th century, men are 5 times more likely to be inflicted with mesothelioma than women. It is expected that the rates will increase up until year 2020 and then decrease from there. More than

Posted by David Water Read more Comments (3) 21.10.2011

October Is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) is a prime opportunity to remind women to be breast aware for earlier detection. It call calls international attention by turning everything pink. Men wear pink shoe laces, women sport pink shirts, businesses everywhere hang pink ribbons and change their paper products into a pink color. Amazingly, Tokyo Tower even lights up pink during the month of October. And in observance of the breast cancer campaign, there will

Posted by David Water Read more Comments (3) 21.10.2011

Pancreatic Cancer Is Getting A Lot Of Attention

Since the death of Steve Jobs, pancreatic cancer is getting a lot of publicity. Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is so deadly that only 5% of sufferers survive the disease. Sadly this is because pancreatic cancer is rarely recognized at an early stage when it is most treatable. Symptoms, which usually consists of abdominal pain and jaundice, do not show its ugly head until the cancer is at an advanced state. As well, there really

Posted by David Water Read more Comments (3) 21.10.2011