Los Angeles Times Examines Growing Concern Over Counterfeit Drugs, Including Some HIV/AIDS Medications

The Los Angeles Times on Monday examined the growing problem of counterfeit prescription drugs, including some medications used to treat people living with HIV/AIDS. Although the FDA says that the U.S. pharmaceutical supply is the "safest in the world," recent seizures of counterfeit drugs raise concerns that consumers no longer can be certain that the drugs they receive are genuine and safe, the Times reports. One of the drugs counterfeiters have targeted is Serostim, which some HIV-positive people take to treat wasting, according to the Times. A 12-week course of Serostim costs approximately $21,000, and the labels and packaging needed to counterfeit the drug can be purchased over the Internet. In addition, officials in California in 2001 discovered a counterfeit shipment of the growth hormone Neupogen -- which is prescribed to some HIV/AIDS patients -- with drug bottles filled with salt water rather than medicine. Counterfeiting has increased with the emergence of more "unscrupulous" secondary drug wholesalers, according to the Times. Some HIV/AIDS clinics, which receive discounts on drugs, buy more drugs than they need and sell the remainder to wholesalers at a profit, according to the Times. With more secondary wholesalers in the market, it can be more difficult to trace the original source of drugs, the Times reports. To fight counterfeiting, Serostim's manufacturer, Swiss-based Serono, has stopped using wholesalers, authorizes only 100 pharmacies in the United States to sell the drug and tracks every shipment of the drug until it reaches a buyer, according to the Times (Jaret, Los Angeles Times, 2/9).