The FDA has identified two dozen web sites peddling countefeit Xenical. And as part of the alert, distributed this photo of the phony stuff. But as the agency indicates, it’s hard to tell the difference, so it’s not clear if side-by-side comparative photos would help anyone. As the Personal Injury Law blog points out, fake pills create liability issues for manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies.

Here’s what concerns the FDA: None of the capsules ordered off the Web sites contained orlistat, the active ingredient in authentic Xenical. In fact, a laboratory analysis conducted by Roche and submitted to the FDA confirmed that one capsule contained sibutramine, which is the active ingredient in Meridia, a different fat pill sold by Abbott Labs.

Other samples obtained from two of the Internet orders were composed of only talc and starch. According to Roche, these two samples displayed a valid Roche lot number of B2306 and were labeled with an expiration date of April 2007. The correct expiration date for this lot number is actually March 2005. The 24 Web sites appear on pharmacycall365.com.

You can read the FDA press release for the full list of sites.[tags]Counterfeit, Xenical[/tags]