When an importer is caught bringing counterfeit or poor-quality food or medical devices into the United States, the products typically get destroyed.
But, curiously, that isn’t the case with fake or adulterated pharmaceuticals. Until now.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule Monday that allows the agency to destroy a drug valued at $2,500 or less that was refused admission into the United States.
The agency received the authority to destroy imports in the 2012 Food Drug and Safety Innovation Act.
The agency always had the authority to destroy poor-quality or fake food or devices, but lacked that authority for drugs.
If customs officials found a shipment of counterfeit drugs, it would be detained and sent back to the country of origin. Experts have said that counterfeiters just repackage the drugs in another shipment to sneak into the U.S.
Congress gave the authority after a series of high-profile incidents. The biggest was the introduction of fake Herceptin, a cancer drug, into the U.S. supply chain.
