The Asian fake Viagra menace

Do you know what your children are cuddling?  A Chicago woman was sentenced to six months in prison for her role in an international counterfeit pharmaceutical drug network that federal authorities said had planned to distribute $8 million worth of tablets from Houston. Amal Alrub, 28, was arrested in Houston in April after meeting with ...

Do you know what your children are cuddling

Do you know what your children are cuddling

A Chicago woman was sentenced to six months in prison for her role in an international counterfeit pharmaceutical drug network that federal authorities said had planned to distribute $8 million worth of tablets from Houston.

Amal Alrub, 28, was arrested in Houston in April after meeting with authorities and arranging to buy about 800,000 loose counterfeit Viagra tablets hidden in cardboard boxes filled with stuffed animals that were shipped from China.

It's a problem with global dimensions:

French customs officials yesterday said they intercepted a shipment of 224,000 fake Viagra and Cialis pills, worth $3.5 million, that was en route to Brazil from India.

The boxes were branded Powergra and Erectalis.

Erectalis? That's a dead giveaway. The secret to good pharmaceutical names is to invent a word that sounds vaguely like what the drug does, not one that is too literal.

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