The Food and Drug Administration is doing its part to warn consumers of a counterfeit drug that made its way to the United States.
A batch of counterfeit drugs purporting to be a popular cancer combating drug called Avastin has arrived in the US, and the FDA is worried about the drug making its way to the public.
A distributor known as Richards Pharma was responsible for selling the counterfeits to doctors. The FDA is warning medical professionals not to accept any drugs from this business, which also goes by the names Warwick Healthcare Solutions, Ban Dune Marketing, and Richards Services.
The items themselves come in vials and have been labeled as Altuzan, which is billed as a Turkish version of the more popular Avastin. However, this item is not approved in America, and in fact the counterfeit versions of Avastin do not even contain the active ingredient present in the American drug.
This isn’t the first time that the FDA has had to warn consumers about counterfeits of Avastin. In February, the agency investigated another instance of a fake version of the item that had been distributed to doctors. No word on if the two counterfeit operations are connected.
Drugs can be dangerous enough without having to worry about ripoffs of drugs. As a personal injury attorney in Ventura, I think we all need to be aware of potential problems associated with such products. That’s why I try to spread the word about this kind of news as a San Jose personal injury lawyer.