Pharmaceuticals

• FMD "need not be the enemy of efficiency"

  13-Jun-13 - The unit-level serialisation of the FMD could catalyse a shift towards improved operational effectiveness in pharma.

• Counterfeit medicines: international news round-up

  12-Jun-13 - A round-up of fake pharma news, including updates from Ukraine, Guatemala, France, Nigeria, Tanzania and Kenya.

• Google search, YouTube under fire for counterfeit good ads

  10-Jun-13 - US attorneys general take issue with Google over alleged failure to act against counterfeit sales; YouTube also under fire.

• House medicines traceability bill passes

  04-Jun-13 - The latest draft of the House drug traceability bill has been approved by a voice vote, despite objections by some Democrats.

• Indian gov hits back at drug quality critics

  04-Jun-13 - India's government has published a 1,000 word riposte to the drug quality furore sparked by the Ranbaxy scandal.

• WHA deal breaks poor quality drugs deadlock

  03-Jun-13 - The WHA ends a six-month deadlock by agreeing to rotate chairmanship of a committee on poor quality medicines.

• Nigerian court winds up tainted baby syrup firm

  28-May-13 - A Nigerian court has shutdown the company behind the tainted teething syrup that was linked to the deaths of 84 children.

• Senators clear medicine-tracking bill for floor debate

  24-May-13 - Two bills aiming to boost the security of the US drug supply are combined and approved for debate by the Senate.

• Point-of-sale system integrated into eTACT demo

  24-May-13 - The eTACT traceability pilot has integrated a point-of-sale system into its demo setup to gather feedback from pharmacists.

• House drug traceability bill makes stride forward

  16-May-13 - A medicines traceability bill has gone forward to be considered by the full House of Representatives in the US.

• Drugmaker taps mPedigree for antimalarial authentication

  16-May-13 - Guilin Pharma has started protecting its Artesun drug in Nigeria using an SMS system developed by mPedigree.

• USP sets up Ghana centre to tackle substandard, fake drugs

  14-May-13 - USP has launched an initiative to combat counterfeit drugs in sub-Saharan Africa that will be run from a new unit in Ghana.

• Q-Med turns to coded security seals to protect Restylane

  14-May-13 - Q-Med has added a coded security seal to its dermal filler Restylane to help protect customers from counterfeits.

• Pfizer turns e-tailer to counter fake Viagra

  07-May-13 - Pfizer has launched a website to sell Viagra directly to US consumers to thwart sales by rogue online pharmacies.

• Guilty plea expected from Canada Drugs salesman

  25-Apr-13 - A salesman affiliated to the online pharmacy involved with a fake Avastin case last year is due to plead guilty this week.