Chinese Pill-Press Supplier Sentenced to 52 Months

This is a major moment in the fight against counterfeit pills. โ€œSophieโ€ Xaiofei Chen has been sentenced to 4 years and 4 months for trafficking pill-making equipment into the U.S., one of the few times a supplier with no direct drug trafficking charges has faced serious consequences.

Learn how this case signals a broader federal crackdown on companies supplying the tools used to manufacture deadly fake pills, why this matters, whatโ€™s next in 2026, and how this prosecution fits into Americaโ€™s struggle with fentanyl-laced counterfeit medications.

Documents and further reading: SafeMedicines.org

The fake pill trade hasn’t gone away

The Partnership for Safe Medicines has updated their handout which explains what a pill press is and how fake pills are made.

This easy to understand handout can be used to educate people about the risks of counterfeit pills.

Google to block promotion of pill presses on ads and shopping platforms

Read the article on the Partnership for Safe Medicines website.

On July 1, Googleย announcedย that it was updating itsย dangerous products and services policyย to restrict the promotion of pill presses, encapsulating machines and components they use, such as dies, molds and stamps used to create or imprint pills. The change willย affect the Google Ads and Google Shopping platformsย starting in September 2025, with six weeks until full implementation.

Contents-Bar-Pill-presses

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that states and tribes proposing importation programs can use โ€œa static baseline approach for the cost-savings analysisโ€ instead of trying to account for changes in unpredictable markets.

DEA’s Pill Press Push

Pill presses are poorly-regulated machines that are an essential tool for drug counterfeiters. Watch DEA’s Pill Press Push and find out why we’re thrilled with the DEA’s new pill press website. Learn more in this video, and keep up with drug safety news at safemedicines.org

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