Counterfeit alerts · product identification
A counterfeit-product story must reproduce the exact scope of a current FDA alert. This guide defines the verification method; it does not claim that any unnamed medicine, seller or supply channel is counterfeit.
Use the alert—not a look-alike checklist from memory
FDA’s Drug Alerts and Statements page groups fast-moving Center for Drug Evaluation and Research issues. A counterfeit alert may identify a product, presentation, packaging feature, lot, seller, distribution channel or test result. Only the identifiers in the exact notice belong in the article.
Photographs and packaging descriptions can assist verification when FDA publishes them, but the newsroom should not invent a visual rule or claim that one design feature authenticates every legitimate product.
The identification record
- FDA alert title, date and direct URL
- Brand and active ingredient named in the alert
- Strength, dosage form, package and lot identifiers
- Seller, channel or geography only where FDA specifies it
- Observed differences or test findings attributed to FDA
- Agency instructions for consumers and professionals
Do not extend a notice to unlisted lots, licensed pharmacies, manufacturers or products. The article should state both what FDA covers and what it does not establish.
What readers can verify next
Readers can compare the exact identifiers in the FDA notice, retain the product and packaging, and follow the agency’s specified reporting or contact pathway. Questions about a prescription or possible exposure should go to a licensed pharmacist or clinician.
For a practical example of a separate access workflow, the patient-facing valacyclovir access and pharmacy verification guide explains how to check a prescription pathway and pharmacy without treating a seller or package image as proof of authenticity.
The newsroom must not diagnose harm, recommend a substitute, direct a dose change or promise that another seller’s stock is authentic. It also should not name an unlisted seller based on speculation or a reader submission.
Correction protocol
Counterfeit alerts can evolve. Save the retrieved notice, check for updates immediately before publication and maintain a dated correction line if FDA changes identifiers or instructions. If product identity cannot be matched, hold the story rather than filling gaps.
Where a verified alert affects hospital or procedural supply, assess the operational impact separately through the Surgical Workforce and Care Access hub.