March 13, 2011 5:00 PM
60 Minutes' nine-month investigation of counterfeit prescription drugs reveals how the dangerous and sometimes deadly fakes get into the nation's drug pipeline. Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.
The difficult fight against counterfeit drugs
A Long and Dangerous Journey, Lion Kings, Taylor Swift 42:46 May 19, 2013
Taylor Swift: A young singer's meteoric rise 12:09 May 19, 2013
Afghan children on a long and perilous journey 12:10 May 19, 2013
A Face in the Crowd, Three Generations of Punishment, Michael Jackson 43:59 May 19, 2013
60 Minutes Overtime is a weekly web show that begins where the weekly television broadcast ends
MJ's "manifesto," penned in 1979
May 19, 2013
Backstage at Cirque du Soleil show "Immortal"
May 19, 2013
Becoming human: Shin's new life
May 19, 2013
Big changes for the 2012-2013 season! Watch the current week's episode for FREE up to a week after it airs or subscribe for access to all shows, classic episodes and more!
- 1
- 2
- Next »
See all 17 CommentsFrom the time a formula in a lab becomes a compound (which is not yet a drug, but could potentially be one), a patent for the potential drug is filed right away. From that point, you have 15 years until the patent expires. IF the drug is successful, and that is a very very BIG IF, then it takes about 10-11 years to get it to the market to treat patients. Most compounds do not make it to the market, and therefore the money that is spent on the research and development, the clinical trials, etc. is all lost. Every penny.
Big pharmaceuticals pride themselves in their quality and work very hard to create and manufacture drugs that are good quality products for their communities. Most of the local communities where plants are located not only benefit from the employment, but also benefit from the amount of charitable work that the company extends to it's local communities.
Pfizer is not looking for media here, they are only trying to point out that part of the battle for cost is also counterfeiting. Most people don't realize how much material is counterfeited on a daily basis and where it ends up. I don't think Peru was picked on personally, they can't go everywhere for a 13 minute piece. Peru isn't a huge market for any country to sell pharmaceuticals in, so the fact that they didn't get their patents filed there doesn't really matter if you look at who they serve globally. They are in almost every country and donate millions of dollars to charity. They also send their own employees across the nations on assignments to give their time to helping developing countries with specific needs. Most of the programs they partner with, Pfizer donates not only the medications, but also the people to help work with the locals to educate them on medicine and health safety issues.
This is just bringing to light the understanding that we all need to be more diligent to our own health care. Question something if it doesn't look right, call the pharmacy if your medication is all of a sudden a different color or size. It is important that we take charge to make a safer world.
Who is the target group on that one. Go to NBC.
First: There are very good pharmaceutical manufacturers in Peru, all of us, who belong to ADIFAN have cGMPs, ISO 9001 and SQF certifications that assure our quality, apart from having ISO 14000 and ISO 18000 to take care of our environment and our workers.
Second: Why did Pfizer chose Perú for that article is a little bit suspicious, let me tell you why. Peru is going through a great economic development and that includes it pharmaceutical industry too. Perú is probably the only country in latin america that did not let pfizer register their mostly bogus patents to keep protecting their old pharmaceuticals (They seriously need new patents to stay in race). We have contested them very fiercely and won. Many of the local pharmaceutical companies in Peru are subsidiaries of international pharmas like TEVA pharmaceuticals for example, and we are all getting prepared to start registering products with the FDA in the USA for future commercialization.
Why didn't they go to Mexico? is closer and definitely the counterfeit mafia is stronger there since it is easier to smuggle their pharmaceuticals into the USA through close to 3000 miles of border? Why do all that circus act just to brake into a little house that i doubt had the capabilities to manufacture the amount of pharmaceuticals they said are distributed from that source. As i said, it is very suspicious, maybe he has some agenda to boycott Peru as a future USA providers of high quality pharmaceuticals...
We manufacture products that pfizer also do, and let me tell you they are not expensive to make and they do have an insane amount of unnecessary profits, for example, 8 years ago, Peru's government pass a law to exclude late generation pharmaceuticals to combat diseases like cancer and AIDS from paying import taxes and sales taxes, unfortunately pfizer never lower their prices, instead they increased them.
Case in point - In the show, Pfizer says that the counterfeiters make enormous profit. In the program, it was also mentioned that the cost of the medicine is 40 cents and is sold for $18. When you call yourself journalists, you should have asked Pfizer whether they are not making a huge profit by selling a 40 cent medicine for $18. You miserably failed in your profession.
If the drug cartel sells a 40cent medicine for 80 cents or $1, people will buy the drug cartel's medicine. And since the profit margin to punishment if caught is low,very few will think of counterfeit drugs. When one drug company makes a successful drug with a huge profit potential, every other drug company jumps in and comes out with a competing drug to share the pie. The illicit drug makers are also doing the same thing. Once lobbying is made a crime, corruption in our government will stop and we will get life saving medicines at affordable prices and this will eliminate counterfeit drugs.
Many people have turned to prescription drug importation as an affordable means to access their prescription drugs. Legitimate and safe Internet pharmacies do exist. Find out more at http://www.rxrights.org.
He was originally prescribed a generic enzyme, manufactured by an American drug company that specializes in generic medications.
He did well for the first 1 1/2 years with those generic enzymes. While we were on a long awaited vacation, he finished the last bottle of the "old batch", and started a new batch that had been shipped to us via UPS from an online prescription company that was REQUIRED by our health insurer.
We were in a seafood restaurant in Florida. He had eaten some of his meal and had taken the new enzymes with his food as usual and had to run to the restroom to move his bowels. He had nasty diarrhea and couldn't keep ANY of his dinner inside. He spent all of the rest of the vacation either not eating at all, or eating and running to the bathroom. His food was NOT being digested. His bowel movements smelled like vomit. He was NOT digesting his food properly.
When we got home, he went for all kinds of tests. His doctors thought that he had gotten some digestive "bug" and he was tested for parasites and all sorts of stuff. NOTHING was found. NO solution was offered. He suffered for months. When we got home and he went back to work, he landed up soiling his pants many times and coming home in tears, and smelling like a dirty baby diapers. He wore Depends during this time, but even the Depends didn't hold everything in.
We wondered if the enzymes were defective. I contacted the company, and the emphatically told me that "nothing had changed, that everything in the manufacture was the same", but they did want me to talk to them. I didn't call them, I felt that they were lying and later found that they got MOST of their raw materials for their generic drugs and enzymes from India. His problems stopped OVERNIGHT, when he asked his primary care doctor to prescribe a different ("brand name") pancreatic enzyme. When he started taking the new pancreatic enzymes, he started digesting his food, and his food STAYED in him. He was NOT putting in food in one end and expelling immediately from the other end.
I still blame the manufacturer of his generic enzymes for "stealing" the quality of his life...
He started having SERIOUS digestive issues in Fall of 2007, WHILE we were in Florida on vacation. He finished the last bottle from one batch, and started a new bottle from the new batch. He started "********" out anything and everything he ate. He was so depressed. We didn't know what was wrong, and he started getting skinnier and dehydrated. He went through all kinds of stress UNTIL, he finally asked his primary care doctor to prescribe a "brand name" enzyme. The digestive issue changed OVERNIGHT. So we were pretty damned sure that the "generic" enzymes were to blame.
Judy
- 1
- 2
- Next »
See all 17 Comments