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One of the main parts of an effective identity theft protection system is to simply be aware of what information you are giving out and to whom you are giving it. This may seem obvious, but today’s technology makes it a little more difficult, especi

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

ally as more and more consumers move to the internet to pay bills, apply for loans, manage accounts, etc.

Identity theft thieves have taken the internet by storm. One of their favorite identity theft tactics is phishing. Phishers lurk the dark hall

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

Examples of combination products may in

ays of the internet trying to acquire your most sensitive information -- usernames, passwords, credit card numbers – by sending you emails posed as your friendly neighborhood financial institution.

A Very Brief History of Phishing

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

It has been said that phishing got its start on – shocking! – AOL. A phisher would comprise an elaborate email appearing to come from AOL itself and request that the recipient verify their password and/or billing information because something was s

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

pposedly wrong with their account. Once the phisher had the information, they would access the account and use it for nefarious purposes, typically to spam even more people with additional phishing emails.

AOL went on the attack in 1997 to shutdown

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

Combination pro

phishing activity. The Company was fairly successful, but to no avail. Phishers just moved on to bigger phish, so to speak. They began using the credit card information they received from phished AOL accounts to attack payment systems of large fina

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

cial institutions.

How Phishing Works – A Brief Primer

There are two basic steps to a phishing scam:

• A manipulated link
• A phony (or “spoofed”) website

Link Manipulation

The victim receives an email fro

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

m a financial institution claiming there’s a problem with their account and they need to log in to fix it. This email is sent out to thousands of email address at the same time. Only a few will actually have accounts with the financial institution b

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

ing spoofed and only a few of those will act on the request. However, all it takes is one…

The victim clicks on a link that leads them to a spoofed website. The link might be buried in an anchor link, such as:

HTML Code:
< a href="http://www.

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

fakebank.com">Link to Real Bank

How it would appear:
Link to Real Bank

The above, based on the text link, appears to be going to the real bank, but the actual link goes to the spoofed w

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

bsite.

Another way to manipulate the link is to register a domain that visually appears similar to the domain of the real company:

Real Company website: www.financialinstitution.com

Spoofed website: www.financia1institution.com

Did you catch it?

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

Following aspects would a

The L in “financial” has been replaced with a 1. The casual observer, already concerned about their account, may not notice the difference. They click on the link and now they’re in a world of hurt because they just went to a…

Spoofed Webs

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

te

The website they end up at has been developed to look exactly like the real one. The identity theft victim logins in with their username and password and simply gets some kind of error message, something like, “The Site is Down for Main

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

tenance” or “Cannot Connect to Server. Please Try Again Later.” The website logs the account information, forwards it to the identity thief and he or she is off to Bermuda on your dime.

Obviously, this scam can be much more elaborate than what is d

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

tail above, but that’s phishing in a nutshell.

How to Protect Your Identity from Phishers

Tip #1: The easiest way to protect yourself from this scam is to ignore them. Trust me, if there’s something wrong with your account, your ba

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

nk or credit card company will contact you by phone.

If you think that the email you received could be valid, do not use the links in the email to follow up. Open a new browser window and manually type in the website address. Better yet – CALL them

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

from the phone number on your statement or the back of your credit card. Never use the phone number in the email.

Tip #2: Be on the look out for identifiers in the email. Do they refer to you by name? Did they include a partial account number? Such

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

information might indicate that the email is real. However, always err on the side of caution. Identity thieves may have found out your name or partial account number by some other means and are trying to catch you off guard. Don’t let it happen.

.

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

ip #3: Use your spam filter. A good spam filter should catch most phishing attempts. Should.

Awareness = Protection

As with all identity theft topics, keeping your eyes wide and your brain active is your best defense against phish

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ing scams. Pay attention to what you’re reading and what links you’re clicking. Quickly scan your email before clicking on anything. If something catches your eye, give it a second glance. If it seems out of place, hit delete. It’s as simple as that

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

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