Police battle counterfeit drugs

VietNamNet Bridge
July 31, 2008
They are produced abroad, look the same as real products and bear registration codes of Vietnam – fake medicines are perfect in almost every way.

The Hanoi Police Agency has recently reported to Interpol Vietnam on a counterfeit drug-producing case involving a Chinese citizen.

Zheng Cheng Zi, director of the Xinkhai pharmaceutical trading company at 122 Vinh Tuy, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi, combined with three Vietnamese to transport fake Augmentin from China’s Guangzhou to Hanoi.

Hanoi police also detected a ring that produced faked drugs in Cau Giay district, led by Quach Thi Lanh, Director of Anh Ngoc Pharma Co, Ltd. This ring produced several kinds of fake drugs, including contraceptives, by sticking false labels onto cheap-cost drugs to make them more expensive. Notably, the fake drugs were sold to some big hospitals in Hanoi and Hai Phong.

In early May 2008, the Hanoi Police Department prosecuted a trans-national ring that produced counterfeit Bakona, which is used to treat liver function disorder and Cotaxoang, a medicine for sinusitis.

On June 30, Hanoi Police joined forces with Lang Son Police to seize a big batch of fake medicines worth VND3 billion ($187,000).

In the 20 fake drug-producing cases that Hanoi Police have cracked since 2004, antibiotics, tonics and medicines to treat physiological malfunctions were counterfeited the most.

Police have noted that technologies used to make fake drugs have improved remarkably and they have warned users to be very careful when buying medicines and asked health agencies to tighten control of medicines to protect people’s health.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/07/796548/