By Jack Phillips
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week warned Americans of a potential overdose risk associated with fake prescription medications sold online.
In an Oct. 2 warning, the federal health agency warned that some “illegal online pharmacies” may be selling and distributing prescription medications that “frequently contain fentanyl,” a powerful synthetic opioid that has led to hundreds of thousands of U.S. overdose deaths in recent years.
It then made note of a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) announcement on Sept. 30 about an indictment against several individuals who ran illegal online pharmacies that sold medications containing fentanyl. The individuals involved have been selling and shipping “millions unregulated counterfeit prescription pills to tens of thousands of individuals” inside the United States, it added.
Americans who may have ordered medications from such pharmacies could be at risk for an overdose, the agency also warned.
“There are online pharmacies that claim to sell prescription drugs at deeply discounted prices, often without requiring a prescription,” it further stipulated. “These internet-based pharmacies often sell unapproved, counterfeit, or otherwise unsafe medicines outside the safeguards followed by licensed pharmacies. Individuals should only take medications prescribed by a licensed healthcare provider and dispensed by a licensed pharmacy.”
Nearly 95 percent of websites that offer prescription drugs online operate illegally, the CDC also said, citing data from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
The CDC urged individuals to be cautious of online pharmacies that operate without a license, do not require a doctor’s prescription, and offer significant discounts. It added that people should have naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug, on hand. For those who may be having an overdose, it’s also recommended to call 911 and seek medical attention immediately, it added.
In its announcement, the DOJ said that Francisco Alberto Lopez Reyes and 17 other individuals in both the United States, Dominican Republic, and India were charged over a scheme to advertise, sell, manufacture, and ship millions of deadly pills disguised as real pharmaceutical drugs. Nine website domains have been seized by federal authorities in connection to the alleged scheme, the agency said.
“At least nine victims who purchased counterfeit pills from the defendants died of narcotics poisoning, including a 45-year-old army veteran who thought she was purchasing real oxycodone,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a news release.
The counterfeit pills were sold to tens of thousands of Americans in all 50 states and to customers in Puerto Rico, Germany, and Slovenia, Williams said at a news conference announcing the indictment.
Williams said 18 people including Lopez Reyes have been charged with crimes including participating in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy resulting in death. It was not clear whether Lopez Reyes had a lawyer who could comment. No attorney was listed in online court records.
In one example, the DOJ announcement noted that a website called Curecog, which is now down, claimed to be a U.S.-based pharmaceutical website that had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, when it hadn’t.
“Curecog, however, was neither legitimate nor FDA approved. Instead, Curecog was a fraudulent storefront that peddled the defendants’ controlled substances, including fentanyl,” prosecutors said.
Members of the enterprise ran basement pill mills in the Bronx and Manhattan, where they used custom molds to press powdered narcotics into pills at rates of up to 100,000 pills every 12 hours, prosecutors said. Law enforcement officers raided one pill mill in Manhattan on May 31, 2023, and seized more than 200,000 pills as well as bricks, bags and buckets filled with powdered narcotics, according to the indictment.
Other than Curecog, the websites that allegedly partook in the scheme, according to the indictment, include Pharmacy Stores Online, Care Online Store, and Your Pharmacy. No other sites were listed in the indictment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
