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WASHINGTON, Feb 16, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has shut down three foreign Web sites that allegedly trafficked counterfeit contraceptive patches.
The agency said usarxstore.com, europeanrxpharmacy.com, and generic.com were found to be selling patches that claim to be FDA-approved drugs but were, in fact, from unknown sources and therefore could be unsafe or ineffective.
The FDA, which is conducting an ongoing investigation of such Internet sites, earlier had taken similar action against rxpharmacy.ws.
The sites had been selling counterfeit Ortho Evra contraceptive patches, the FDA said.
Customers actually received packages of patches without the active ingredient necessary to make them effective. The bogus patches also were sent in simple plastic zip-lock bags, FDA said, without identifying materials, lot numbers, expiration dating or any other labeling information.
Photos contrasting the legitimate patch with the counterfeit can be found at the FDA Web site at fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/photos/contraceptive/counterfeit.html.
Copyright 2004 by United Press International.
