Counterfeit Medicine

Counterfeit medicine is fake medicine. It may be contaminated or contain the wrong or no active ingredient. Educating consumers about the risks of counterfeit medicine is an important part in the effort to stop counterfeits from entering the United States' drug supply.

The following materials will help you be more aware of ways to identify the risk of counterfeit medicine and to minimize the chance of receiving fake products.

To obtain printed copies of any of these materials, please email your request by title to: dpapubs@fda.hhs.gov. You can also call 301-796-3703 or 1-888-INFO-FDA.

• "Counterfeit Medicines - Filled With Empty Promises; You can avoid counterfeit medicine by purchasing only from U.S. state-licensed pharmacies." This short article explains what counterfeit medicines are, and give tips on how to avoid the risks.
• "Reporting Unlawful Sales of Medical Products on the Internet."  This is a reporting site consumers can use to report Web sites that they suspect are illegally selling human drugs, animal drugs, medical devices, biological products, foods, dietary supplements or cosmetics over the Web.