16-Dec-2010
US President Barack Obama has counterfeit medicines and other fake products in his sights, and earlier this week set up a public-private partnership - backed by commercial heavweights such as Google and Microsoft - to help stamp out the trade.
The new organisation will bring together 11 Internet commerce-focused companies (American Express, eNom, Inc., Go Daddy, Google, MasterCard, Microsoft, Neustar, Network Solutions, PayPal, Visa and Yahoo!) - along with federal offices such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and US Customs - to develop a coordinated approach to targeting and taking down illegal online pharmacies.
The new initiative was announced earlier this week at the White House Intellectual Property Health and Safety Forum by Victoria Espinel, who was appointed Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in February with a brief to tackle IP, trademark and copyright infringement.
The post was created last year when the US Congress passed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008.
In June, Espinel presented the Obama Administration's Strategic Plan on counterfeiting which included a raft of proposed measures, including a requirement for drugmakers to Notify the authorities when counterfeits are discovered and to provide details of their product ranges for a federal database, as well as a mandatory electronic pedigree system.
At the forum, a study from the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies was revealed which showed that one in six Americans - or around 36m people - have purchased medicines over the Internet without a prescription.
"Those who sell prescription drugs online without a valid prescription are operating illegally, undercutting the laws that were put in place to protect patients, and are thereby endangering the public health," said Espinel.
"It is a real wake-up call that so many Americans have engaged in this dangerous behaviour.
Commenting on the initiative, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) president John Castellani said: "The ... decision to step up efforts to eliminate counterfeit medicines should not only be applauded but should also serve as a warning sign to criminals selling fake and harmful counterfeit pharmaceuticals to unsuspecting consumers."
He reiterated PhRMA's determination to lobby for an increase in the penalties for individuals found guilty of involvement in the counterfeit medicines trade.
"The average jail time for a counterfeiting crime is three years but we believe that 20 years is a better fit for such a potentially deadly crime," said Castellani.
source
Related articles:
Obama seeks action on online pharmacies domain names
Obama strategy on counterfeits calls for industry transparency
. It looks like they are looking for the same assholes that we try to avoid. The scams and rip-off artists that are trying to sell us counterfeits. If nothing else this could possibly clean up the market so that only legitimate drugs are sold by generic names. Lets be honest the president of the USA and the law enforcers could give two poops about public safety. The article says so itself they say they are interested in "copyright infringement" and "counterfeits". The truth is that the government is concerned about profits from big pharma. Lets face it lobbyists supporting big pharma also back the government. They make contributions to the people they support and in turn those people protect their businesses. Don't believe for a second the government of the USA cares about your health; they are protecting their own corrupt pockets.
US President Barack Obama has counterfeit medicines and other fake products in his sights, and earlier this week set up a public-private partnership - backed by commercial heavweights such as Google and Microsoft - to help stamp out the trade.
The new organisation will bring together 11 Internet commerce-focused companies (American Express, eNom, Inc., Go Daddy, Google, MasterCard, Microsoft, Neustar, Network Solutions, PayPal, Visa and Yahoo!) - along with federal offices such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and US Customs - to develop a coordinated approach to targeting and taking down illegal online pharmacies.
The new initiative was announced earlier this week at the White House Intellectual Property Health and Safety Forum by Victoria Espinel, who was appointed Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in February with a brief to tackle IP, trademark and copyright infringement.
The post was created last year when the US Congress passed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008.
In June, Espinel presented the Obama Administration's Strategic Plan on counterfeiting which included a raft of proposed measures, including a requirement for drugmakers to Notify the authorities when counterfeits are discovered and to provide details of their product ranges for a federal database, as well as a mandatory electronic pedigree system.
At the forum, a study from the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies was revealed which showed that one in six Americans - or around 36m people - have purchased medicines over the Internet without a prescription.
"Those who sell prescription drugs online without a valid prescription are operating illegally, undercutting the laws that were put in place to protect patients, and are thereby endangering the public health," said Espinel.
"It is a real wake-up call that so many Americans have engaged in this dangerous behaviour.
Commenting on the initiative, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) president John Castellani said: "The ... decision to step up efforts to eliminate counterfeit medicines should not only be applauded but should also serve as a warning sign to criminals selling fake and harmful counterfeit pharmaceuticals to unsuspecting consumers."
He reiterated PhRMA's determination to lobby for an increase in the penalties for individuals found guilty of involvement in the counterfeit medicines trade.
"The average jail time for a counterfeiting crime is three years but we believe that 20 years is a better fit for such a potentially deadly crime," said Castellani.
source
Related articles:
Obama seeks action on online pharmacies domain names
Obama strategy on counterfeits calls for industry transparency
. It looks like they are looking for the same assholes that we try to avoid. The scams and rip-off artists that are trying to sell us counterfeits. If nothing else this could possibly clean up the market so that only legitimate drugs are sold by generic names. Lets be honest the president of the USA and the law enforcers could give two poops about public safety. The article says so itself they say they are interested in "copyright infringement" and "counterfeits". The truth is that the government is concerned about profits from big pharma. Lets face it lobbyists supporting big pharma also back the government. They make contributions to the people they support and in turn those people protect their businesses. Don't believe for a second the government of the USA cares about your health; they are protecting their own corrupt pockets.
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