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Quality assessment of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed online: Diflucan(®) distributed online

BACKGROUND: Falsified medical products have been reported worldwide. Falsified medicines with poor quality are a potential health hazard. Some Internet sites advertise fluconazole (Diflucan(®)), an antifungal medicine used to treat deep mycoses, as “female Viagra(®).” AIM: The aim of this study was...

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Autores principales: Sanada, Tomoko, Ohnishi, Myu, Yoshida, Naoko, Kimura, Kazuko, Tsuboi, Hirohito
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9413635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36204509
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/23992026211002089
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author Sanada, Tomoko
Ohnishi, Myu
Yoshida, Naoko
Kimura, Kazuko
Tsuboi, Hirohito
author_facet Sanada, Tomoko
Ohnishi, Myu
Yoshida, Naoko
Kimura, Kazuko
Tsuboi, Hirohito
author_sort Sanada, Tomoko
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Falsified medical products have been reported worldwide. Falsified medicines with poor quality are a potential health hazard. Some Internet sites advertise fluconazole (Diflucan(®)), an antifungal medicine used to treat deep mycoses, as “female Viagra(®).” AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the authenticity and quality of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed on the Internet. METHODS: We ordered Diflucan(®) tablets via the Internet and evaluated them by visual observation, authenticity investigation, quality evaluation (quantity of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, content uniformity, and dissolution), and near-infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy. RESULTS: We obtained 11 samples of Diflucan(®) tablets from all 11 Japanese Internet sites identified in our search. Of 11 sites, 7 advertised fluconazole as having effects on female sexual function. Ten of the Diflucan(®) samples were confirmed as genuine and one sample was falsified. The genuine Diflucan(®) samples met the specifications of all quality evaluations. The packaging, size, and color of the falsified Diflucan(®) sample obtained in this study differed from the authentic Diflucan(®) tablet. The falsified Diflucan(®) sample obtained in this study did not contain fluconazole and instead contained what appeared to be sildenafil citrate. The spectra of the falsified Diflucan(®) tablet obtained in this study differed from the authentic Diflucan(®) tablet in near-infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy. CONCLUSION: We confirmed that one falsified Diflucan(®) tablet was distributed online. Thus, continued measures against falsified medicines are required.
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spelling pubmed-94136352022-10-05 Quality assessment of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed online: Diflucan(®) distributed online Sanada, Tomoko Ohnishi, Myu Yoshida, Naoko Kimura, Kazuko Tsuboi, Hirohito Med Access Point Care The illicit trade of medicines online and falsified medicines BACKGROUND: Falsified medical products have been reported worldwide. Falsified medicines with poor quality are a potential health hazard. Some Internet sites advertise fluconazole (Diflucan(®)), an antifungal medicine used to treat deep mycoses, as “female Viagra(®).” AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the authenticity and quality of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed on the Internet. METHODS: We ordered Diflucan(®) tablets via the Internet and evaluated them by visual observation, authenticity investigation, quality evaluation (quantity of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, content uniformity, and dissolution), and near-infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy. RESULTS: We obtained 11 samples of Diflucan(®) tablets from all 11 Japanese Internet sites identified in our search. Of 11 sites, 7 advertised fluconazole as having effects on female sexual function. Ten of the Diflucan(®) samples were confirmed as genuine and one sample was falsified. The genuine Diflucan(®) samples met the specifications of all quality evaluations. The packaging, size, and color of the falsified Diflucan(®) sample obtained in this study differed from the authentic Diflucan(®) tablet. The falsified Diflucan(®) sample obtained in this study did not contain fluconazole and instead contained what appeared to be sildenafil citrate. The spectra of the falsified Diflucan(®) tablet obtained in this study differed from the authentic Diflucan(®) tablet in near-infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy. CONCLUSION: We confirmed that one falsified Diflucan(®) tablet was distributed online. Thus, continued measures against falsified medicines are required. SAGE Publications 2021-03-25 /pmc/articles/PMC9413635/ /pubmed/36204509 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/23992026211002089 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle The illicit trade of medicines online and falsified medicines
Sanada, Tomoko
Ohnishi, Myu
Yoshida, Naoko
Kimura, Kazuko
Tsuboi, Hirohito
Quality assessment of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed online: Diflucan(®) distributed online
title Quality assessment of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed online: Diflucan(®) distributed online
title_full Quality assessment of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed online: Diflucan(®) distributed online
title_fullStr Quality assessment of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed online: Diflucan(®) distributed online
title_full_unstemmed Quality assessment of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed online: Diflucan(®) distributed online
title_short Quality assessment of Diflucan(®) tablets distributed online: Diflucan(®) distributed online
title_sort quality assessment of diflucan(®) tablets distributed online: diflucan(®) distributed online
topic The illicit trade of medicines online and falsified medicines
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9413635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36204509
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/23992026211002089
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