By Linda A. Johnson
The Food and Drug Administration is stepping up its fight against counterfeit and other potentially harmful medicine sold over the Internet.
The agency is ordering operators of about 4,100 websites to immediately stop selling unapproved medications to U.S. consumers.
The move is part of a weeklong global crackdown by regulatory bodies and law enforcement on websites selling counterfeit, substandard and unapproved medicines, aimed at making the global medicine supply safer.
It also follows the FDA’s launch last Friday of a campaign to warn consumers that the vast majority of online pharmacies do not follow laws or pharmacy industry standards and their products could harm or even kill people. The campaign includes a new website, www.fda.gov/BeSafeRx , that explains the risks of fake online pharmacies and how to tell the difference between those websites and legitimate ones.