In 2018, a pharmacy technician was indicted for stealing prescription HIV medications worth more than $10 million from the pharmacy of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in East Orange, New Jersey.
Later, Drugmaker Gilead seized counterfeit HIV medications across 17 locations in 9 states worth over $250 million, replaced in some cases with antipsychotics and over-the-counter painkillers. These incidents are not isolated events, as soaring costs for medications for COVID-19, HIV, cancer, and other diseases, coupled with social determinants like poverty, are fueling black market demand in the US and abroad.
Join Dr. Michael O’Neill, Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the South College School of Pharmacy in Knoxville, as he shares techniques to monitor all drugs, both controlled substances as well as non-controlled medications, particularly expensive drugs like oncology medications and antivirals.
Key webinar takeaways for non-controlled medications
- Identify multiple common non-controlled prescription medications diverted and misused.
- List rationales and incentives to misuse and divert non-controlled prescription medications.
- Implement protocols or tools to help deter and detect non-controlled prescription medication diversion.
