60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin speaks out about a growing, troubling trend targeting seniors.

(Alexandria, Virginia) – Yesterday, it came to light that a life-saving cancer treatment has fallen prey to counterfeiters seeking to profit at the expense of America’s seniors. Inauthentic copies of Avastin, a cancer treatment frequently taken to allay colon or lung cancers, have been confirmed to enter the U.S. pharmaceutical supply. This startling news elicited a response from 60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin, leader of the nation’s largest conservative seniors advocacy group, with over 7.1 million supporters.

“Criminal networks are taking advantage of those already stricken, by disguising ineffective, fake medicines as government-approved legitimate treatments. Counterfeiting of prescription drugs is a sick, ill-conceived enterprise that needs to be addressed with adequate protections for both consumers and businesses.

“Imagine a world without safe medicine. Here in the U.S., we take comfort in the fact that we have an organized system of protections that ensure only safe, legitimate medicines are administered to our ill. Counterfeiters have the ability to destroy our trust in our treatments and that cannot be tolerated.

“We should not sit idly as counterfeiters take advantage of those most in need. Our leaders must support policies that safeguard public health and safety and protect the integrity of America’s brands and the hard work of our innovative companies, which have invested time and money into responsibly developing life-saving products.”

Continued Martin, “Rather than treating cancer, these counterfeit medications are the cancer.”

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