The free service is the brainchild of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, a coalition of patient, physician, pharmacist, university, industry and professional organizations. It works by monitoring government counterfeit alerts and disseminating relevant information to the public, eliminating the need for consumers to actively research fake drugs on government web sites.
The move comes a month after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted a warning on its web site about counterfeit versions of Lipitor, Viagra and an unapproved product known as “generic Evista” that were being sold at pharmacies in Mexican border towns.
The Partnership said the SafeMeds Email Alert System will only use drug alerts posted by official government bodies like the FDA and the Drug Enforcement Agency, although it will monitor a number of web sites worldwide to track developments related to the problem of counterfeit drugs.
The system’s web site also includes tips on identifying a counterfeit drug and the safest way to purchase affordable prescriptions.