Boehringer Ingelheim leads charge against counterfeit drugs

“Internet pharmacy. Cheap generic medications online.” “Eating this KILLS diabetes!” And of course the eternally popular “Try Viagra for Free” and its infinite number of variations. Messages with subject lines like these pop up in most people’s email inboxes on a daily, if not hourly, basis. And while many recipients simply delete them — or, if their spam filters are doing their jobs, never see them at all — a large enough number apparently click through and visit online pharmacies like GlavMed and Canada Drugs. There they purchase their Lipitor, Pradaxa and, yes, Viagra at considerably lower prices than what they would pay at their local CVS or Walgreens. When their medications arrive — apparently in the same packaging that drugmakers Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly and Pfizer employ — they duly ingest them.