Advice You - Business

A lot has been written about all known kinds of scams including “Phishing”. But criminals keep on throwing their nets and having quite a good take. Ther

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

efore we have to continue exposing the phishing attempts. And since “it is better to see once than hear 10 times” I want to share with you 2 emails that

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

I have recently received.

These are really similar letters (in fact it is almost the same one with tiny differences). The letter(s) are as follows:

Sub

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

ects:

1. We were unable to authorize charges to the Credit Card Number you provided.

2. Your Amazon Account will be Closed!

“Dear AOL Client, (Dear

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

Client)

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in our network.

We recently noticed the following issue on your account: A recen

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

review of your transaction history determined that we require an update of your account in order to provide you with secure services.

We apologize for

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

any inconvenience this may cause.

You must click the link below and fill in the form on the following page to complete the verification process.

http:/

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

webmail.aol.com/mail/

(http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html)

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account.

Sincerely,

AOL (Amazon) Billing Department”

As said, I clicked the link

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

and saw a “secure” form asking for my name, address, credit card details and so on. It is clear that filling out this form would cause me a substantial

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

financial loss. But how do I know that these letters are phishing? Simple: I am not and have never been a client of AOL. And how would l know if it we

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

ren’t, say, a letter “from my bank”?

In reality, it is very difficult to reveal a scam without special knowledge. But a normal person cannot be expected

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

to know all the technical details. Besides, even a great amount of knowledge doesn't always help to prevent deception. As in O'Henry's story "The Gent

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

le Grafter. Modern Rural Sports", a most technologically educated person can be duped by cunning swindlers playing on the person's primary instincts and

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

motions.

So I will not elaborate on the techie methods. I would only like to note that the links in the letters are spoofed: in the letter, the “Amazon”

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

link location is in India! What I recommend is to be armed with COMMON SENSE and follow a number of IRON rules:

- Legitimate companies do not send i

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

personal letters (they know your name/ID, while the phishers - do not);

- Legitimate companies do not ask for sensitive information via email;

- NEVER

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

give your personal or financial information to an organization that you don’t know;

- NEVER give your sensitive information if you have not initiated th

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

interaction (since you cannot know who the correspondents really are);

- NEVER send via email your personal or financial information (it is not a secur

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

e method);

- Regularly check your bank account and credit card statements;

- If you received a phishing letter forward it to spam@uce.gov.

Be careful

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.adviceyou.org.ua/article/2760/adviceyou-Phishing-Scam.html">Phishing Scam</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.adviceyou.org.ua/article/2760/adviceyou-Phishing-Scam.html]Phishing Scam[/url]

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