{"id":219,"date":"2011-11-18T11:30:56","date_gmt":"2011-11-18T11:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/2011\/11\/harsher-penalties-proposed-to-counter-counterfeit-drug-peddlers.html"},"modified":"2011-11-18T11:30:56","modified_gmt":"2011-11-18T11:30:56","slug":"harsher_penalties_proposed_to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/2011\/11\/harsher_penalties_proposed_to.html","title":{"rendered":"Harsher penalties proposed to counter counterfeit drug peddlers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/NM-som-20111118.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"NM-som-20111118.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/files\/NM-som-20111118-thumb.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"10px\"\/><\/a>Congress is, yet again, throwing a fit about counterfeits. Now, US lawmakers from both political parties are proposing a new measure to increase the criminal penalties for the manufacture, sale or trafficking of counterfeit medicines.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, prison times and fines for dealing in counterfeits are the same as any other illegal trade. But \u201ccounterfeit medication poses a grave danger to public health that warrants a harsher punishment,\u201d the legislation\u2019s co-sponsor Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, <a href=\"https:\/\/leahy.senate.gov\/press\/press_releases\/release\/?id=32b65870-4520-478d-ac0a-c1bf9610c6bc\">wrote<\/a> in a statement. The Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.securingpharma.com\/us-bill-would-set-20m-max-fine-for-counterfeiting-medicines\/s40\/a1114\/\">introduced yesterday<\/a> in both houses of Congress, would increase the maximum penalties for first-time offenders to 20 years in prison with a $4 million fine; repeat offenders could be dinged as much as $8 million.<\/p>\n<p>But, if precedent on Capitol Hill means anything, this bill is not set to go far. Tim Fagan\u2019s Law, named after a teenager who was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/stories\/2005\/05\/09\/earlyshow\/contributors\/melindamurphy\/main693799.shtml\">injected with<\/a> counterfeit medicine after a live transplant, was first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govtrack.us\/congress\/bill.xpd?bill=h108-3297&#038;tab=related\">proposed in 2003<\/a> to increase penalties for dealing in counterfeit drugs. However, the legislation has been sitting pretty in committee for six years now, and is reintroduced every year with no advance.<\/p>\n<p>For more on counterfeits, read our April 2010 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/nm\/journal\/v16\/n4\/index.html#subcatxt\">news focus<\/a> on the subject.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:CBP_with_bag_of_seized_counterfeit_Viagra.jpg\">Image<\/a>: Bag of seized counterfeit Viagra (sildenafil) via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congress is, yet again, throwing a fit about counterfeits. Now, US lawmakers from both political parties are proposing a new measure to increase the criminal penalties for the manufacture, sale or trafficking of counterfeit medicines.&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/2011\/11\/harsher_penalties_proposed_to.html#wpn-more-219\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/2011\/11\/harsher_penalties_proposed_to.html\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}