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EU launches public consultation on counterfeit drugs

(PharmaTimes - Mar. 17, 2008) The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the dangers of counterfeit drugs, and is asking all stakeholders and interested parties to submit key ideas for regulatory reform by May 9.

Parallel trade “considerable risk” to patient safety, says EC

(Pharma Times - Jan. 21, 2008) The European Commission is to prioritise and speed up moves to deal with the issue of counterfeit drugs in parallel trade and will launch a legislative initiative on the issue.

BMA Warns Of The Dangers Of Buying Drugs On The Internet, UK

(Medical News Today - Nov. 30, 2007) A warning to patients about the dangers of buying prescription drugs via the internet came from the British Medical Association (BMA). The Association wants to work with the government and the World Health Organisation to control internet sales of medicines, some of which are counterfeit and potentially harmful.

MHRA shifts counterfeit battle up a gear

(PharmaTimes.com - Nov. 27, 2007) The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has published its first ever anti-counterfeit strategy, alongside the launch of a new 24-hour hotline for reporting suspected incidences of fake medicines and devices.

Save a little but lose big online

(Houston Chronicle - Nov. 10, 2007) Consumers thinking of buying cheap drugs online should be careful as they may be paying for dangerous knockoffs.

Zimbabwe Authorities Open Probe Into Market In Counterfeit AIDS Drugs

(Voice of America - September 10, 2007) Zimbabwean authorities have launched an investigation into the alleged black market sale of counterfeit antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. According to the Chairman of the Zimbabwe National Network of People with AIDS, in some cases registered non-governmental organizations, purporting to help those living with HIV/AIDS, are selling ARVs whose date of expiry has passed.

Police bust online Viagra gang

(VRUNET - September 18, 2007) The leader of a gang selling fake Viagra over the internet has been given a four and a half year jail sentence. The internet supplier ordered fake Viagra tablets from suppliers in China and Mexico for 25p each and sold them for as much as £20 online to people in the US and Europe.

Indians found guilty in UK’s biggest fake drug rackets

(SIFY News - September 18, 2007) Four people, including two of Indian origin, have been found guilty of masterminding a multi-million pound global racket of selling counterfeit Viagra and other drugs over the Internet after procuring them from India, Pakistan and China.

Dubai Customs confiscate 5 million pills of counterfeit medicines and expired food products

(Dubai Customs - September 12, 2007) Dubai Customs announced today that it has successfully confiscated five million tablets of counterfeit medicines worth more than AED 20 million. The warehouse contained many kinds of counterfeit medicine from different international brand names, in addition to large quantities of unknown drug pills. Customs inspectors also found various amounts of fake Pfizer's Lipitor, GlaxoSmithKline's Augmentin and Bayer's Levitra pills.

Bogus Drug Peddlers Thrive in Cyberspace

(Scientific American - September 5, 2007) A global survey last month found only four of 3,160 online pharmacies studied were accredited as Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites, the industry standard. Average prices for six top-selling drugs on the non-accredited sites were 75 percent cheaper than on approved ones, suggesting most products were dubious.

Drug imports pose substantial risks

(Chain Drug Review - August 20, 2007) Significant numbers of Americans are buying drugs from foreign countries, often via the Internet, according to a recent study. Many drugs are purchased without a prescription, which may mean patients are not under the care of a licensed health care provider.

Beware of fake medicine

(New Straits Times - August 27, 2007) Fake drugs are a growing concern in Asia but Malaysia faces a bigger problem of unregistered and adulterated products. As more and more drugs are being sold on the Internet and by street peddlers, the proliferation of fake medicine is everywhere.

China leads drug spammers

(Financial Times - August 20, 2007) Nearly two-fifths of spam e-mails offering popular medicines via the internet come from China, raising concerns about the country’s role in the supply of unregulated pharmaceutical products. Some sites provide legitimate drugs but others have dispatched sub-standard or counterfeit goods.

Watching Out For Counterfeit Medicine

(Winter Park-Maitland Observer - August 2, 2007) Counterfeit prescription drugs are a real and growing threat to the health and safety of consumers. With more drugs being sold on the internet and imported from other countries, Americans need to be more vigilant than ever about the medications they take.

Brandjacking Big Pharma

(Forbes.com -- August 20, 2007) A study of online pharmacies released Monday by the consultant company MarkMonitor reveals a disturbing rate of fraud among drug-selling sites on the Web. By driving traffic to drug sales sites with spam e-mails, the more than 7,000 online pharmacies tracked by the study drew millions of daily visitors and estimated sales in the billions of dollars annually. Only a tiny fraction of the online businesses possessed the certifications they claimed.

Health Canada to crack down on fake pills

(National Post - July 23, 2007) The peddling of bogus pharmaceuticals is becoming such a worrisome problem that Health Canada has begun drafting a new anti-counterfeit strategy, expected to include beefed-up enforcement, stronger ties with police and a public-education campaign, a department official confirmed last week. The federal agency is also planning to hold a conference of interested parties to discuss the threat when the plan is released this fall.

Trial of Pharmaceutical Company Exposes Counterfeit Medicine Production

(The Epoch Times, August 20, 2007) -- According to a Chinese report, once in court the five defendants exposed a lot of inside information detailing counterfeit medicine production.

Mr. Niu Zhongren, the only individual responsible for purchasing raw materials, replaced the mandatory "field inspections" and "sample testing" with simple "phone calls" in the purchasing process and claimed that he "could not understand the quality control reports from vendors."

The 'global disaster' of fake internet pharmacies

(US-PharmaTechnologist.com - July 19, 2007) Fake internet pharmacies are a growing "global disaster" with increasingly dangerous consequences, pharmaceutical industry figures say. The decry follows last week's coroners report over the death of a Canadian woman who died from metal poisoning after purchasing fake drugs over the internet.

Countrywide study to map fake drugs

(LiveMint.com - July 18, 2007) India’s drug regulator is proposing a sweeping survey to collect 50,000 drug samples from across the country to directly figure out the extent and spread of fake drugs. The European Union (EU) recently named India as the No. 1 source for counterfeit drugs entering the EU, ahead of the United Arab Emirates and China.

India hub of counterfeit drugs

(The Economic Times - June 23, 2007) A recent European Commission report claimed that India was the largest source of the 2.7 million counterfeit drugs seized by its custom department in 2006.