How To Detect Counterfeit Drugs

[Geek-9pm]

Off topic. Not a computer issue.
This is about a specific search I need to do. the title says it.
Somewhere there is a easy test device you can use at home to test any prescription drugs you suspect. But to date I have not found who sells the 12 stripe paper card tests for DIY use.
https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-06/bad-medicine

A group of chemists from St. Mary's College in Indiana and Notre Dame has gotten into the detective game, too. Its convenient and still-unnamed product—a lab on a piece of paper the size of a business card—directly detects a drug's ingredients.

https://www.scidev.net/global/medicine/news/innovation-for-fake-malaria-drugs-test.html

Can anybody here help me with this search?
I want to know who sells the paper test cards.

[DaveLembke]

Interesting that a litmus paper method is used. Getting drugs through a pharmacy you shouldn't have this worry. Quality control should keep these out as for the pharmacy doesnt just get their supplies through ebay etc. If getting drugs online I would be really worried about fakes or knock offs that might not be that safe.

Biggest thing with this litmus paper test approach is that... you would need a comparison list/book of what values should be measured on each of the 12 strips to know what your looking at, so the litmus alone is worthless unless you know what to look for for your specific prescription.

Other issue is that to test you have to waste a pill. What if the pills in a bottle were a mix of real and fakes. You test a real one and assume the rest of the bottle is good is the worse case scenario vs testing and finding a fake and throwing away some good ones among the bad ones.

[patio]

Couldn't agree more...

[Geek-9pm]

Thank you for letting me introduce a controversial topic.
The issue is not just mail-order drugs and *censored*.
I have resewn to believe that local drug stores are selling fake drugs that are important to the hearth and well-being of myself and my family.
Too often the drugs stores here sell pills in unsealed bottles. There is no sure way to verify the pills are genuine.

One would think that they would not be allowed to sell crucial prescription dug from a bulk supplier. About half of the pills I take are not sealed in a bottle from the manufacture. Strange  as it seems, over the counter drugs are sold in sealed bottles

I was hoping to find the company that makes the 'litmus' test for drugs. That way I would have some way to convince my doctor there is a problem with the local drug stores. And I do not even know if the test paper can be sold to a layman. Maybe it is forbidden.

Anyway, this issue is a very serious social problem.
This link below only hints at the problem. It is about morphine and like drugs.
https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm593602.htm
That  link is old, but still an issue.
The link below is about Generic Metformin, often given to Diabetes patients.
https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/generic-metformin-benefits-risks/
The Metformin I get comes in an unsealed bottle and I have no way of knowing if they gave me good or bad pills. No certifiable label from the maker.

Thanks for letting me post. 

[BC_Programmer]

Prescription drugs are by definition not "sealed" in bottles because they are literally dispensed into containers and labelled based on the prescription. That's literally part of the pharmacist's job. Sometimes they even compound tablets from powders on-site.

Here's a question: Let's say yo get this test paper and it says there is nothing wrong with the drugs. Will you accept that, or just assume "It goes deeper than I thought!"

[Geek-9pm]

Here's a question: Let's say yo get this test paper and it says there is nothing wrong with the drugs. Will you accept that, or just assume "It goes deeper than I thought!"

Yes. I need some assurance the drug store is giving me what the doctor ordered.

Somebody proposed prescription  pills ought to have RFID chips. I think that is overkill. However, this does illustrate he need for some safeguard to identify the use of prescription drugs . In this case the patient is the suspect. 
https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm584933.htm

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first drug in the U.S. with a digital ingestion tracking system. Abilify MyCite (aripiprazole tablets with sensor) has an ingestible sensor embedded in the pill that records that the medication was taken. The product is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia, acute treatment of manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder and for use as an add-on treatment for depression in adults.

So far I am not at that point. 

[patio]

If you are anywhere in North America outside of Mexico the drugs being issued by a liscensed pharmacist are legit and you have zero worries...their reputation and careers are on the line ...why would they risk it ? ?

Unless you have become a truther and believe every conspiracy thats out there...is that what this is about ? ?

[kgbme]

...why would they risk it ? ?

That's a good question, but for example (crazy, right!?)

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https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm366985.htm
And anyway, there are like at least three sides to this thing; if it can be presented in groups and there (surely, ‘Don’t Call Me Shirley’) may be more, please feel free to add:

• Non-FDA aprroved drugs, not illicit - at all - but, for example, the so-called dietary supplements can fall under this category
• FDA-approved drugs: which nobody in their right mind would use, but the unfortunate...
• Crisis, serious anti-epidemic inoculations, vaccinations and antibiotics.

The first (1) category applies to all of the medicine - which isn't (!) medicine (sometimes not at all), when looking at ingredients and otherwise. Often times advertised on TV (um, what would be good examples?), which is a rather serious issue as it makes 'em available to the widest possible audience.

Second (2), we have what everybody always talks about... Various, various-level-of-dangerous, drugs - including "performance enhancers", for students and such. These may be non-approved, as well. Example article following:

Doctors warn new FDA-approved painkiller is deadly dangerous @

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https://www.rt.com/usa/new-painkiller-deadly-dangerous-260/
And (3) finally, again an RT link, www.rt.com/news/403972-antibiotics-shortage-pharmaceuticals-who/ which comes with a warning from the WHO (World Health Organization) and 'a “serious lack” of new antibiotics', for various (& numerous) reasons that include simple use and (also!) abuse; really, too many to even get into.

So, we can see that it's a complex, multi-faceted, issue - actually, a myriad of issues which have the potential to upset human population on Earth, in many instances. A good topic, great post, thank you!

^^ ‘Don’t Call Me Shirley’

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https://www.vulture.com/2016/01/airplane-dont-call-me-shirley.html

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/leslie-nielsen-best-airplane-quotes-and-naked-gun-one-liners/=)