Watch Out for Fake Adderall (and Other Counterfeit Drugs)
Watch Out for Fake Adderall (and Other Counterfeit Drugs)
The DEA is warning consumers about counterfeit drugs, including fake Adderall advertised on the Internet.
The fake pills are not made by Teva Pharmaceuticals or other legitimate pharmaceutical companies, contain none of the active Adderall ingredients, and instead have ingredients that may be dangerous, such as fentanyl or methamphetamine.
Adderall is a stimulant approved by the FDA to treat attention deficit disorder and narcolepsy but is occasionally prescribed off-label for cancer-related fatigue.
If something looks “off” about your medication or its packaging, you may be in possession of counterfeit drugs. Be on the lookout for misspellings on the packaging or differences in pill markings, shape, or color from what you are familiar with.
Resources for Keeping Yourself Safe from Counterfeit Drugs
If you are unsure about the authenticity of your medication, there are a variety of free tools available on the internet to help you verify that your medication is real and manufactured by FDA approved pharmaceutical companies.
The FDA provides information and resources on how to keep yourself safe from counterfeit drugs, and what to do if you suspect the drugs you have are fake. You can also contact the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) at 800-551-3989 if you believe you have received counterfeit Adderall or other drugs.
Unpacking Laxatives
Patients who have purchased counterfeit Adderall should not take it and talk to their doctors about obtaining the right medicine. With so many drugs in short supply right now, the FDA warns patients to be particularly careful when buying medicine on the Internet.
The Bottom Line About Fake Adderall
Most patients think the prep was specifically chosen for them by their doctor. The actual truth is most patient’s preps are chosen by the scheduler from a list of OTC and prescription preps OK’d by the doctor. Schedulers are either medical assistants or nurses that are typically office-based. Unfortunately, because they are primarily in the office, they do not get much exposure to the actual colonoscopy experience. They also do not get to hear the patient’s colonoscopy prep stories, and if they had any significant difficulties. Because of these factors, schedulers may choose colon preps based on some misperceptions.
One of the most common misperceptions is the cost of the prep. Rightfully so, many schedulers tend to be very cost-conscious and frequently use that to choose preps. Schedulers are commonly informed by industry reps that a prescription prep is “covered” by insurance. This can be easily misunderstood to mean the prep has “no cost” to the patient. What this means is insurance pays a portion of the cost, but the patients typically have a copay, and it is almost impossible to know what that amount is until the patient is at the pharmacy. In a quality improvement project for our office, we asked 500 patients with insurance what was their copay, or out-of-pocket expense, for their prescription prep. We found that patient copays ranged widely from $0-$165, with an average copay of $72 for their prescription prep. So “covered” does not mean free.
The DEA is warning consumers about counterfeit drugs, including fake Adderall advertised on the Internet.
The fake pills are not made by Teva Pharmaceuticals or other legitimate pharmaceutical companies, contain none of the active Adderall ingredients, and instead have ingredients that may be dangerous, such as fentanyl or methamphetamine.
Adderall is a stimulant approved by the FDA to treat attention deficit disorder and narcolepsy but is occasionally prescribed off-label for cancer-related fatigue.
If something looks “off” about your medication or its packaging, you may be in possession of counterfeit drugs. Be on the lookout for misspellings on the packaging or differences in pill markings, shape, or color from what you are familiar with.
Resources for Keeping Yourself Safe from Counterfeit Drugs
If you are unsure about the authenticity of your medication, there are a variety of free tools available on the internet to help you verify that your medication is real and manufactured by FDA approved pharmaceutical companies.
The FDA provides information and resources on how to keep yourself safe from counterfeit drugs, and what to do if you suspect the drugs you have are fake. You can also contact the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) at 800-551-3989 if you believe you have received counterfeit Adderall or other drugs.
Unpacking Laxatives
Patients who have purchased counterfeit Adderall should not take it and talk to their doctors about obtaining the right medicine. With so many drugs in short supply right now, the FDA warns patients to be particularly careful when buying medicine on the Internet.
The Bottom Line About Fake Adderall
Most patients think the prep was specifically chosen for them by their doctor. The actual truth is most patient’s preps are chosen by the scheduler from a list of OTC and prescription preps OK’d by the doctor. Schedulers are either medical assistants or nurses that are typically office-based. Unfortunately, because they are primarily in the office, they do not get much exposure to the actual colonoscopy experience. They also do not get to hear the patient’s colonoscopy prep stories, and if they had any significant difficulties. Because of these factors, schedulers may choose colon preps based on some misperceptions.
One of the most common misperceptions is the cost of the prep. Rightfully so, many schedulers tend to be very cost-conscious and frequently use that to choose preps. Schedulers are commonly informed by industry reps that a prescription prep is “covered” by insurance. This can be easily misunderstood to mean the prep has “no cost” to the patient. What this means is insurance pays a portion of the cost, but the patients typically have a copay, and it is almost impossible to know what that amount is until the patient is at the pharmacy. In a quality improvement project for our office, we asked 500 patients with insurance what was their copay, or out-of-pocket expense, for their prescription prep. We found that patient copays ranged widely from $0-$165, with an average copay of $72 for their prescription prep. So “covered” does not mean free.
