(HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with international partners, moved this week against more than 1,050 websites that sell potentially dangerous counterfeit medicines and medical devices, the agency said Thursday.

Illegal medicines and medical devices were seized worldwide, and warnings were sent to the operators of offending websites, the FDA said in a news release. "Our efforts to protect the health of American patients by preventing the online sale of potentially dangerous illegal medical products will not cease," George Karavetsos, director of the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations, said in the news release.

Counterfeit prescription drugs that claim to be generic versions of brand-name drugs that are sold illegally on the websites include generic Nolvadex, generic Meridia, generic Valium, generic Truvada, and generic Advair Diskus, according to the FDA. Mail screenings in Chicago, Miami, and New York found that some of these counterfeit drugs -- which included antidepressants, hormone replacement therapies, sleep aids, and drugs to treat erectile dysfunction, high cholesterol, and seizures -- were on their way to American consumers, the FDA said. Bogus medical devices sold on websites that were targeted include hyaluronic acid and other dermal fillers and "colon hydrotherapy" products.

As part of the international effort led by Interpol, the FDA said it sent warning letters to the operators of nearly 400 websites selling unapproved or misbranded prescription medicines to U.S. consumers, and to 9 companies distributing unapproved medical devices online.

Source

1. FDA News Release, June 18, 2015.

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INCIDENTS of kidney disease continue to rise in the Philippines, the Department of Health's Renal Disease Control Program in Davao Region said.

The number is growing so fast such that records from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) show that dialysis patients are now the number one in terms of accounts served by Philhealth, outranking childbirth that has been number one for decades past.

Davao kidney specialist consultant Dr. Franklin Guillano earlier cited a report from Philippine Renal Disease Registry that around 1,000 patients in Davao Region are undergoing a maintenance dialysis mostly from Davao City.

Redcop spokesperson Dr. Maria Theresa Lorenzo Bad-ang said there is an increase of 15 percent of people diagnosed with kidney disease based on a data from the Philippine Renal Disease Registry in 2013 as compared to 2012.

Bad-ang said that in 2013, 14,395 new patients had to have dialysis, for a total of 23,364 patients nationwide. In 2012, the new patients numbered 12,500.

In Davao City, 800 kidney disease cases have been recorded of which 20 have undergone kidney transplant.

It was also reported that Davao Region ranks number four in the number of kidney patients nationwide as of 2014. On the top spot is the National Capital Region followed by Region 4, and then the Bicol Region at third place.

Davao City Council Committee on Health chairperson Councilor Joselle Villafuerte emphasized that early prevention is much better, as she recommends a healthy lifestyle, proper food intake, and adequate intake of water.

The health officers also raised the importance in controlling the three major causes of the kidney disease: diabetes, hypertension, and chronic glomerulonephritis.

On top of the list to be removed from one's diet to prevent kidney diseases are junk food and soft drinks. Both children and adults are encouraged to undergo annual urinalysis.

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