Health Canada issues warning about counterfeit online pharmacies

Health Canada recently issued an advisory warning Canadians to avoid purchasing medications from three online pharmacies:  www.northdrugmart.com, www.northdrugstore.com, and www.pharmacyrxworld.com.  Health Canada has identified products for sale on these sites that are not authorized for sale in Canada, but have been altered to resemble products that are approved for sale -- as such, these products are suspected of being counterfeit.

The Health Canada advisory notes that "It is important to note that counterfeit drugs may contain no active or unsuitable ingredients, or dangerous additives. To this end, counterfeit drugs may pose a higher risk than other forms of unauthorized drugs."

According to the World Health Organization, in over 50% of cases, medicines purchased over the Internet from illegal sites that conceal their physical address have been found to be counterfeit.