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Q: When I search online for prices of the prescription drugs I am taking, the prices vary widely. Shouldn’t I simply pick the online vendor that’s offering the lowest price?

A: Not if you’re serious about staying healthy. Never order prescription drugs from an unknown vendor without first checking carefully to determine the legitimacy of its operation and the quality of the drugs it dispenses.

 

Q: Is there any way to determine if the drugs I receive are the real thing?

A: Unless you have access to high-tech analytical equipment, you probably won’t be able to differentiate between counterfeit and genuine medications.

 

Q: What are the dangers of counterfeit prescription drugs?

A: Counterfeiters have grown increasingly sophisticated in creating fake drugs that look virtually identical to the brand-name medications they purport to be. However, as similar as these counterfeit and genuine medications may be to the naked eye, they are often far different in terms of their ingredients. Counterfeiters have been known to use drywall material as filler and toxic dyes as coloring agents.

 

Q: Is it true that some counterfeit drugs contain the same active ingredient as the brand-name drug they copy?

A: Yes, counterfeiters sometimes use the same active ingredient as that found in the real drug. But the amount of the active ingredient is sometimes too little to be effective or so high that it could be dangerous. On top of that, you have no way to know what other ingredients have been mixed with the active ingredient to create the finished product.

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Q: Which drugs are most widely counterfeited?

A: Viagra has long held the title as the most widely counterfeited drug, a testimony to the little blue pill’s popularity worldwide. Not far behind is Cialis, another popular PDE5 inhibitor. However, in the last couple of years, there has been an upsurge in counterfeit formulations of painkillers, many of which have been found to contain life-threatening levels of fentanyl or a fentanyl analogue. These dangerous counterfeits have led to a worrisome increase in the number of opioid-related overdoses and deaths both in the United States and elsewhere around the world.