KY: Customs agents seize $1M foreign Viagra shipment in Louisville

Federal customs officials confiscated more than $1 million worth of pills labeled as Viagra that arrived in Louisville from Hong Kong.

In a statement from Customs and Border Protection, in a search Wednesday night, agents noticed labels on the 500 bottles of the prescription drug in the package indicated the medication was manufactured in the U.S. even though it was shipped from the Chinese administrative region.

“CBP will continue to investigate and take action against counterfeit and misclassified goods that post a threat to our economy and our citizens,” Louisville Port Director Thomas Mahn said.

The purported erectile dysfunction pills were addressed to an individual in Brooklyn, New York. The bottles contained a total of 15,000 pills.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the value of counterfeit pharmaceuticals traded globally was $4.4 billion in 2016, and the number of bogus drug shipments discovered more than doubled from 2014 to 2018.

And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic that led to an explosion in online sales.

However, CBP notes the concerns about counterfeit drugs extend beyond economics. Just 3% of online pharmacies reviewed by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy comply with federal laws and practice standards.

Any prescription drug sold in the U.S. needs to meet Food and Drug Administration standards. CBP agents work with the FDA and other federal agencies to keep counterfeit drugs from entering the country

LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, CBP’s director of field operations for the Chicago office, said that means individuals play a “dangerous game” when they seek prescription drugs online.

“Consumers are purchasing these prescription medications from other countries thinking they are getting them at a discount, when in fact they are purchasing an inferior product with unregulated ingredients,” Sutton-Burke said.

Customs agents in Louisville, where the UPS global air hub is located, seized more than $265 million in counterfeit products, including clothing, jewelry and other items, during the 2022 fiscal year. Officials also prevented more than 21,000 pounds of illegal narcotics from entering the country.

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