British men warned about buying dodgy and dangerous fake Viagra online

Medical Specialists® Pharmacy have worked tirelessly for many years to warn men about the dangers of buying cheap and potentially fatal fake Viagra pills, both online and from that dodgy geezer down the pub.

If price is the concern with men, it need not be anymore! Since Pfizer’s Viagra patent expired in 2013, other drug manufacturers can now produce ED treatments that contain Viagra’s active ingredient, sildenafil. To put it into context, prices of generic sildenafil from Medical Specialists® work out from as little as £1.54 a tablet through an online consultation, and just £1.35 if the patient already has a private prescription ready to send to the pharmacy.

Therefore, there is no excuse for following the lead of one 36-year-old man from Herefordshire, who last week spoke to the Daily Mail Online about his “horrible” experience as a way to warn other men about the dangers of buying inexpensive and fake Viagra pills online.

The countless warnings the Manchester-based pharmacy has given over the years – such as describing the filthy environment the pills are produced in and listing some of the toxic ingredients sometimes added to the ingredients of the counterfeits – has therefore been validated with the unfortunate male featured in the Daily Mail.

The low price of these poorly made knock-off erectile dysfunction (ED) tablets might appeal to people in a day and age where money is tight, but why put your life at risk for the sake of a few quid?
Another reason why men might be driven to buying cheap impotence pills online – on top of some money saved – could possibly be the potential embarrassment of speaking to a doctor about problems ‘down there’.

There is no reason to be afraid of speaking to a GP though, he or she will have previously spoken to thousands of men suffering with similar issues and it will be nothing new to them. Erectile dysfunction is a very common condition, especially prominent in older men. Furthermore, around half of all men between the ages of 40 and 70 will have it to some degree.

Of course, there are obviously men who will flat-out refuse to see a doctor face-to-face and fortunately there are genuine online pharmacies out there such as Medical Specialists®, who provide online consultations where men can answer a series of medical questions and have this reviewed by a GMC-registered doctor. The doctor will assess the patient’s suitability for that particular drug using the answers provided, and the patient will be contacted if there is an issue raised or if further information is required.

The man in question featured in the Daily Mail story had come out of a long-term relationship and was getting back into the dating scene. However, the 36-year-old chef began his dinner-date with a young woman, and soon began to suffer with something a little more than ‘nerves’.

The father-of-two felt his heart rapidly beating, his head thumping and he was pouring with sweat. Things were so bad he even feared he was having cardiac arrest.

It soon hit home that the symptoms were his own doing. Feeling optimistic about the night’s proceedings, the man had swallowed a small, blue, diamond-shaped pill before the date, one of 10 ‘Viagra’ pills he had bought online for £25. Bearing in mind that Viagra is manufactured in boxes of 4 and 8 tablets, this is the first clue that all is not what it seems.

“Before I even got to the date, I started to feel really hot and sweaty,” he said. “I thought it might be nerves — but then my heart started going really fast, I got a headache and felt a bit woozy.”

“I felt horrible for two days,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep, my nose was blocked, I was dehydrated and I had red blotches all over my face.” After a quick check online, he quickly realised his ED medication didn’t resemble a genuine Viagra pill and he had been sold fakes.

“I crushed them up and flushed them all down the toilet, because there was no way I was going to take them again,” he said.

“I only took them as a back-up. I’d never had any problems before, but I just wanted to be sure. I would never buy anything like that online again, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone else to do so either.”

Not surprisingly, the date didn’t go too well. Instead of a passion-filled evening, the man found himself alone in bed at home and considering a trip to A&E.

Hopefully men around the country will take heed from this man’s experience, but unfortunately figures demonstrate how the illegal market in fake or unlicensed erectile dysfunction pills has increased in recent years.

In the last year alone, officials have seized in excess of £11 million worth of these types of drugs. This represents a rise of 3 times the amount seized from the year previous and a 15-fold increase on the £740,000 haul apprehended during 2013.

For those concerned about how to spot a fake online pharmacy from a real one, Medical Specialists® has already listed some of the most common red flags to be aware of when browsing online.

As mentioned earlier, there is no need to be embarrassed about experiencing ED. It is a common condition that more men are finally starting to feel comfortable talking about. Men need not seek out their mate down the pub for pills that could contain any number of dangerous chemicals, or buy cheap fakes from illegal websites, especially when genuine Viagra or genuine generic sildenafil ED treatments can be obtained from a well-respected, fully registered MHRA-approved pharmacy like Medical Specialists®, from as little as £1.35.

MHRA close down 1,600 illegal websites in medicines bust

For a number of years Medical Specialists® Pharmacy – a safe, legitimate, fully registered online pharmacy with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) and the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) – have waged a war against the growing trade of illegal websites selling potentially fatal drugs.

Usually, these websites have been meticulously crafted together by crooks looking to make a quick buck from the unknowing customers that come to them. Often the websites pretend to be that of a real pharmacy, but in reality, there are no doctors, pharmacists, or anyone with a health-related background involved in the illegal ‘pharmacy’, and the medicines and usually poorly made counterfeits too.

Unfortunately, these websites are springing up across all the major search engines, such as Google, and look to draw-in unsuspecting customers with suspiciously low prices and outrageously illegal offers on prescription drugs, such as “buy one get one free!”…This is particularly common amongst erectile dysfunction treatments such as Viagra and Cialis. However, imagine going to your own GP and he offers you 10 free Viagra tablets if you pay for 20 Cialis tablets to begin with, it is an absurd thought process, but it is the kind of thing that appears on illicit drug websites. There are also countless other easy ways to spot a fake online pharmacy.

The good news though is that medicines regulator The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have successfully clamped down on these illegal websites, according to a new study.

The On Tap Report, conducted by UK defence and security think tank the Royal United Services Institute, states that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of such websites shut down, soaring from 200 in 2010 to more than 1,800 by 2014.

The fact there are so many websites emerging has been pinpointed to the fairly ‘low-risk and high reward’ involved with such illicit activities. For example, there is only a two year maximum prison sentence carried for offences under the 1968 Medicines Act. Not only this, most medicines are easy to duplicate because of standardised tablet sizes, vials and packets, due to high levels of regulation.
The report explains how the trade of illegal drug websites has managed to thrive primarily due to the relatively unregulated environment that is the internet. Unsurprisingly, most illegal pharmaceuticals are obtained over the internet compared to within high street pharmacies. In addition, it is estimated that more than half of our spam emails contain links to illegal websites, usually selling counterfeit drugs.

MHRA enforcement group manager Alastair Jeffrey spoke about the work of the MHRA in fighting the illegal websites and the risk they pose to the public.

He commented: “We welcome this report and as the UK regulator of medicines and medical devices, we are focused on tackling the illegal medicines trade. The report identifies much of the good work currently being undertaken by us and other government agencies.

“Our priority is to protect public health and while the involvement of organised crime in the illegal trade of medicines is not new, our work continues to evolve to counter the growing influence of the internet and other factors. We’re exploring the report’s recommendations, a number of which are already being addressed by the provisions of the Falsified Medicines Directive which has been implemented in the UK and is coming into force in stages.

“We would reiterate our advice that people should be alert to the risks of buying medicines online from illegitimate sources – medicines supplied cannot be guaranteed to meet set standards of quality and safety – in short, you don’t know what you’re getting, where it came from or if it’s safe for you to take. If you have a specific health concern, our advice is to consult an appropriate healthcare professional, such as a doctor or pharmacist.”

Illegal websites posing as pharmacies still swarm the search engines

Buying from the internet can be risky, especially when it comes to your health. Those with health problems such as erectile dysfunction should only ever receive their medication from a registered pharmacy, clearly displaying the green cross logo and pharmacy number – which can be verified – on the front page of their website, as follows:



So for example, you have erectile dysfunction, you should have already have had, or about to initiate check-ups with your own doctor for any other underlying reasons for erectile dysfunction, and are about to search for a genuine, registered pharmacy on the internet. This is where you need to beware; there are thousands of illegal websites posing as pharmacies, who do not care about your health, who are plaguing search engine results and easily accessible, high up the rankings.

Often even within the first few pages especially of any given search engine, there are countless examples, and it is catastrophic. It is disastrous for patients, for genuine online pharmacies, and gives the entire e-commerce industry an unfairly bad reputation. But the good news is Medical Specialists Pharmacy are reporting these malicious websites to authorities and to the search engines themselves.
Here are the summarised important factors that can help you spot a rogue online pharmacy/illegal website.

. An unnecessary/suspicious internet browser redirect.
. No requirement of a doctors’ consultation for prescription medication.
. Long delivery times, sometimes up to several weeks. This is due to the drug being imported from a foreign country before it gets to you.
. The price of the medication is a lot cheaper than what would be expected, sometimes by as much as 70%. If a price is too good to be true, it’s probably because it is.
. ‘Bonus’ or ‘free pills’. Seriously, just stop and think what doctor would throw in free pills for you requesting a higher amount of something. Frankly, it is absurd and an obvious sign of an illegal pharmacy.
. The website does not list any contact details, e.g. a telephone and fax number, email address, company address or details of its pharmacists, doctors, etc.
. A registered Pharmacy such as Medical Specialists Pharmacy will have the GPhC green cross logo together with its Pharmacy number. This number can be checked to see if it does actually exist.
. The company registration and VAT number should both be clearly stated on the website. Both of these are a legal requirement.
. A non-UK currency and/or a ‘head office’ that is based overseas.

Now when you think of searching for products of services, the chances are almost all of us will turn to Google. Simply put, amongst search engine users, Google blows all of its competitors out of the water. It is the most popular search engine by a staggering distance, with an estimated 83% of search engine users found to prefer Google in 2012, a remarkable percentage whatever way you look at it.
Those behind the previously mentioned illegal websites are fully aware of what search engines are popular, and will target them with a vengeance. It is a problem for both patients and legitimate fully-registered pharmacies such as Medical Specialists, Chemist Direct, and it is a problem that needs dealing with NOW.

Worryingly, a lot of illegal websites are posing as pharmacies, selling counterfeit drugs. They have no regulation and their drugs may have none of the active ingredient at all.  These websites are still populating user’s search results and more vigilance needs to be shown by internet users all around the globe to spot them and avoid at all costs. The cost could even be your health or worse, your life. Safety is of no concern to these criminals, they instead offer counterfeit drugs, or ‘generic’ versions of medications that should not have generics.

Even the pill quantities should make anyone with common sense alert to authenticity. Erectile dysfunction medications are usually packaged within a box of four tablets and it doesn’t take a lot to realise you are not dealing with a genuine pharmacy when 120 mg x 10 ‘generic Viagra’ pills are being sold for just £17.76. Quantity issue aside, 100 mg is the highest dose of Viagra and this alone should raise serious alarm bells. Those cheap ‘generic’ Viagra tablets could actually contain very little sildenafil (Viagra’s active ingredient), none of it at all, or much more than listed on the website – highly dangerous to those with certain health problems.

Other common traits for the illegal websites is suspiciously low prices, as touched upon with the previous example, as well as absolutely no prescription or online doctors’ consultation required when ordering. All genuine UK online pharmacies should have GMC-registered doctors under their wing to assess if particular patients are medically suitable for certain medications.

However, it does not stop there. Say it is Viagra you want to treat your erectile dysfunction, even before the website has loaded, take notice of your browser address bar. There is a good possibility a seemingly random website address of ‘xyz.com/index.php?12345’ showing on the search results will suddenly change to ‘cheapgenericdrugs4u-order-viagra-online’, or something else that appears suspect. Ask yourself, why would any legitimate online pharmacy go to the trouble of implementing a redirect in your internet browser? Basically, they wouldn’t…Close the website immediately before it has infected your computer with malware; malicious software that can disrupt or damage your computer’s operation and even collect sensitive information for a third party’s benefit.

The shocking truth about counterfeit drugs is laid bare

After speaking with many of the thousands of patients who choose Medical Specialists as their pharmacy, we are only too aware of the concerns, worries and hesitations that some people have when it comes to dealing with online pharmacies. We are part of a minority in that we are a fully registered, genuine pharmacy that prescribe genuine branded medication – No cheap and potentially fatal knock-offs like many online ‘pharmacies’!

And now an investigation carried out by WKYC’s Channel 3 News in America has exposed more of the murky, dangerous world of counterfeit drugs after shocking estimates show that around $75 billion worth of counterfeit drugs could have been obtained last year unknowingly.

Some may remember the widely reported 2012 case of fake cancer drug Avastin being circulated in the supply chain. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had to alert medical practices in the U.S. that were suspected to have purchased and used the fakes. Avastin is an injectable medicine that is used to treat cancers of the brain, colon, kidney and lung. It is usually administered to patients in clinics, hospitals, and doctors’ offices. The fake Avastin worryingly did not contain the medicine’s active ingredient, bevacizumab, resulting in patients not receiving much needed treatment.

The new investigation comprised of the purchasing of medications online that the investigators thought looked credible enough. The websites were found by searching ‘online pharmacy’ into Google. Then, they decided to try and obtain two incredible popular medications – erectile dysfunction treatment Viagra, and the ‘bad’ cholesterol-lowering medication Lipitor.

The websites offered a variety of medications; some being brand-name prescription medications, whilst others were cheaper generic alternatives. Proudly displayed on the websites were images of the American and Canadian flags, and pictures of what appeared to be doctors and pharmacists…So far so good.
However, next is where suspicions started to arise. ‘Female Viagra’ and ‘Viagra super active’ were just two of drugs being offered on some of the websites. Viagra has not been given approval to be used by women. Also, although the UK patent on Viagra expired earlier this year, meaning certain pharmaceutical companies can produce medications containing Sildenafil (Viagra’s active ingredient), Americans will have to patiently bide their time until 2020 for a generic alternative to hit their shores.
Therefore, ‘Viagra super active’ should ring alarm bells immediately! It is either Pfizer-made Viagra, or none at all! In a move that should also set alarm bells off, two websites shockingly offered free samples of prescription-only medications with orders, such as another erectile dysfunction treatment, Cialis. Obviously there are questions within a doctor’s consultation that need to be asked to patients before any prescription item is approved and dispensed to the patient.

After ordering Viagra and Lipitor from three websites, it was a few later before anything arrived. Packages then turned up from exotic locations like China, India and Pakistan, not America or Canada. Customs forms on the packages certainly raised eyebrows. One said the package contained ‘plastic beads’, another listed ‘cards’ and a third said ‘harmless medicine’.

The drugs seemed to be genuine upon a quick glance. However, one not-so-minor problem… received was a generic Lipitor – not what the investigators had paid for. In another order, only half of the Viagra tablets had arrived that had been ordered and paid for.

Next, the issue was; were the pills actually real? Samples of the drugs were then sent off to Pfizer’s lab in Groton, Conn., for testing.

Brian Donnelly is director of investigations for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. He is a qualified pharmacist, with 22 years of FBI work under his belt. Donnelly explained some shocking things about how the tablets were most likely produced.

“The active ingredient in the chemical could be in one part of China. The person who makes the tablets could be in another part of China, and then the person who packages it could be a third person,” Donnelly says.

Donnelly explains only one thing (besides big profit) is of importance to the counterfeiter. “It’s not whether the medication works or not. It’s whether or not it looks like the product. They may use floor wax on it to give it a shine. They may use automobile paint to give it colour. They’ve used ink cartridges for colour. We’ve seen boric acid used as a dilutent to give the tablet its size and shape. One of the favourite things for making the tablets is sheet-rock.”

Donnelly’s team works together with local law enforcement to stop dozens of counterfeit operations each year they bust the dirty labs which are the polar opposite of the hygiene, sterile environments where the genuine article is produced.

“You have no idea how that drug’s been manufactured. You have no idea how it’s been stored,” Donnelly says.

In many cases, it is near impossible to distinguish a fake medication from its real counterpart, so agents use a device known as a TruScan. The device blasts a laser which analyses the drug’s chemical composition to determine authenticity.

“As you can see, it failed. So this is counterfeit. It’s counterfeit,” Donnelly says after scanning one of the Viagra pills.

However, not only was the pill fake, it gets worse. In one batch of counterfeits, the anti-inflammatory medication diclofenac was discovered to be mixed in, for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

“When you get something that’s contaminated with another drug, you have the potential for getting someone sick,” Donnelly warns.