Alert: Illegal H1N1 anti-viral drug sold over internet

FDA has issued a recent alert that “scammers” are capitalizing on the public’s concern over H1N1 flu by marketing illegal or fraudulent products to consumers, mostly over the internet. Some of the H1N1 drug products claim to prevent, treat and/or cure the virus.
The FDA has tested many of these products and found them either not to contain the
marketed ingredients or to contain substances that are not approved for use in the United
States. According to Dr. Margaret Hamburg, M.D., Commissioner of FDA, “products
that are offered for sale online with claims to diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat or cure the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus must be carefully evaluated,” she adds, “Medicines purchased from web sites operating outside the law put consumers at increased risk due to a higher
potential that the products will be counterfeit, impure, contaminated, or have too little or too much of the active ingredient.”