Safe Medicines: True Crime and Medicine Safety

Lt. Justin Wright has decades of experience in law enforcement and is currently at the Ada County, Idaho Sheriff's Office. In this episode, Shabbir and Justin talk about an unusual case involving an illegal online pharmacy mailing fake controlled substances that took a life in the county, and how that was connected to a nationwide investigation. They also touch on the evolution of the illicit drug crisis, where it might be going, a...

In this episode of the PSM Podcast, host Shabbir Imber Safdar sits down with Jeffrey Bratberg, Clinical Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, to explore a groundbreaking model for expanding access to treatment for opioid use disorder. Dr. Bratberg shares how his early work in infectious disease and harm reduction, particularly expanding access to Narcan, led him ...

What happens when the medication you depend on to prevent a medical emergency suddenly doesn’t arrive?

In this episode of the PSM Podcast, host Shabbir Imber Safdar sits down with Donovan Guerrero, a 25-year-old engineering student living with Hemophilia A. Born with less than 1% of the clotting factor his body needs, Donovan relies on consistent preventive treatment to avoid dangerous internal bleeds.

After his insurer impl...

In this episode of the PSM Podcast, we sit down with Lisa Hicks, who has spent the past decade advocating for awareness and prevention following the tragic death of her son, Joe, from a fake pill laced with fentanyl.

Lisa reflects on how the fentanyl crisis has evolved over the last ten years, from a lack of awareness and understanding to widespread recognition of its devastating impact. She shares her experiences navigating grief...

In this episode, PSM's Executive Director, Shabbir Imber Safdar, CFE, sits down with Sheriff Dorsey, who brings more than 25 years of law enforcement experience, for a candid conversation about one of the greatest public safety threats facing America today: the rise of fentanyl and the explosion of illegal pill presses.

The Sheriff also includes stories from undercover members of his team, who describe two recent incidents in their...

In this episode of the PSM podcast, Executive Director Shabbir Safdar sits down with Luis Diestre, Founder and CEO of Translucent Data Lab and Professor at IE Business School. The conversation delves into the methodologies and technologies developed to combat illegal online pharmacies (IOPs) through data science and AI. It discusses the impact of IOPs on public health and the economy, the challenges faced in disrupting these networ...

In the latest episode of the PSM podcast, host Shabbir Imber Safdar, Executive Director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, is joined by Dr. William H. Grover, Associate Professor of Bioengineering at UC Riverside. They talk about the motivations and innovations of The Grover Lab, and how their low-cost innovations are helping to combat the global crisis of falsified and substandard medicines. 

Dr. Grover introduces us to ...

In this episode, PSM Executive Director Shabbir Imber Safdar sits down with Dr. Kenneth McCall to explore his newly published study on the adverse events linked to compounded GLP-1 receptor agonists. Dr. McCall’s study, which analyzed data from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database, raises important safety questions about compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide. Tune in to learn about why compounded GLP-1s ar...

In this episode, hosts  Krystalyn Weaver and Shabbir Imber Safdar dive into the rapidly evolving world of Prescription Drug Affordability Boards and upper payment limits—two key policy tools designed to tackle rising drug costs at the state level.

With special guests Emily Zadvorny, PharmD, BCPS, Executive Director of the Colorado Pharmacists Society, and Bridget Dandaraw-Seritt, patient advocate and Founder of Advocates...

Recently, a unit of fake Ozempic was found in an Arkansas pharmacy and identified as fake using a new tool from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Pulse.

What does a patient, who received a counterfeit twenty five years ago, think about this magical decoder ring that can detect counterfeits in an instant today?

How does Pulse by NABP, that detected the fake Ozempic in the Arkansas pharmacy, actually work behind the sce...