LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers intercepted a shipment of 500 bottles of Viagra from China heading to New York.
Officials said each bottle contained 30 100 milligram tablets for a total of 15,00 pills. It was all going to a person in Brooklyn, New York.
The bottles had labels saying they were made in the U.S., however authorities say those claims are "suspect" as the pills were being shipped from an industrial company in Hong Kong.
CBP said if genuine, the pills would have had an estimated $1.06 million value.
"This is a dangerous game consumers are playing that could have disastrous results," Director LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke at the Field Operations-Chicago Field House.
According to a press release, medications purchased from online sources can be improperly produced without regulated safeguards to ensure one's health.
Prescription medications manufactured in non-regulated foreign companies often contain dangerous contaminants or ineffective compounds, officials said.
"Consumers are purchasing these prescription medications from other countries thinking they are getting them at a discount," Sutton-Burke said. "When in fact they are purchasing an inferior product with unregulated ingredients."
Louisville Port Director Thomas Mahn said CBP will continue to "investigate and take action against" counterfeit and misclassified goods that pose a threat to the economy and consumer safety.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says only 3% of online pharmacies reviewed by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy are in compliance with U.S. pharmacy laws and practice standards.
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