Criminals make billions of dollars creating and selling counterfeit drugs around the world, and those products make their way into the United States. They duplicate the exact packaging, look and taste of the real thing. They can be difficult to detect, but detecting them is important. Counterfeit drugs can be a death sentence for the patients who end up taking them. Fake drugs deny patients treatment that can alleviate suffering and save lives, promote drug resistant strains of disease and may cause dangerous or deadly reactions to undeclared drug ingredients. Comprised of more than 45 non-profit organizations, the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) is a public health group committed to the safety of prescription drugs and protecting consumers against counterfeit, substandard or otherwise unsafe medicines. PSM follows a set of principles to support quality assurance programs and establish a drug distribution system that is without compromise. It is our hope that through these guidelines we can reduce the number of counterfeit drugs that defraud patients and deny them therapies that can alleviate suffering and save lives. Our principles include: · Unifying the fight against counterfeit drugs · Securing and protecting the pharmaceutical supply chain · Regulation of online sellers Our members are dedicated to protecting the safety of American consumers by curbing the manufacturing and sale of dangerous counterfeit drugs. Our goal is for all consumers to be aware that counterfeit medicines do exist, they are not safe and together we can take action to avoid them. PSM works with patient advocacy groups and consumer groups to raise awareness of counterfeit drugs within the United States and to teach patients and medical professionals how to buy medication safely and affordably without risking their lives by dealing with unlicensed, dangerous counterfeit medication sellers.