The FDA warned 15 companies that are selling diabetes treatments illegally to refrain from doing so as this can lead to complications such as heart disease or kidney failure.
National Health Fraud Coordinator Gary Coody, explains why these products are so popular (and could be lethal), in saying in a statement, “People with chronic or incurable diseases may feel desperate and become easy prey. Bogus products for diabetes are particularly troubling because there are effective options available to help manage this serious disease rather than exposing patients to unproven and risky products.”
To give you an idea how many diabetes patients there are in the United States, that number amounts to 26 million or 8.3% of the population. Being touted as the seventh leading cause of death, almost one in three adults will have diabetes if current trends continue until 2050.
Keeping this in mind, the FDA has also warned patients from using these all-natural products such as diabetes supplements and prescription drugs that are offered over the internet but do not meet the FDA guidelines as safe diabetes medication.
Prior to this warning, the FDA has already closed 1600 fake online pharmacies that is already considered as one of the largest Internet enforcement action. One such example was the company called Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co, which sold three FDA unregulated creams and generates almost $232 million a year.
In fact, these three creams alone earned the company almost $1.1 million, and thanks to the FDA’s warning, the company, it has agreed to change the titles of these creams.
With the number of people with diabetes increasing by the year, sales of unregulation medication that amounted to $13.8 billion in 2008 has increased to $22 billion in 2012.