Web Rx drugs: "complex and emerging problem"

A coroner's inquest in British Columbia, Canada, has confirmed that a 58-year old woman died of cardiac arrhythmia stemming from metal toxicity, as a result of taking fake prescription drugs bought on-line (Marketletter April 2). Among the substances found in the victim's liver was 15 times the normal level of aluminium.

As one pharmaceutical industry blogger put it: "by trying to soothe her nerves with a few easily bought pills, Marcia Bergeron became the poster child for the reimportation debate." A representative of global drug behemoth Pfizer referred to the case at a US congressional hearing, prior to the verdict, into the possibility of legalizing parallel trade in prescription drugs from Canada.

Numerous symptoms of metal poisoning