Taiwan Survey Finds 8% of Drug Stores Have Fake Pills

In a March 27th story in the China Post it was reported that the Taiwan Medical Product Anti-Counterfeit Task Force (TMPACT) surveyed pharmacies and consumers and found that 8% of the surveyed pharmacists reported that they had counterfeit pills in their stores.

The survey was conducted in 2008 with over 90% of those surveyed responding to the questionnaire.

According the report, Taiwanese consumers of Viagra, Viartril-S and Reductil are the most at risk for consuming counterfeit medicines. Susceptible and targets in general are afrodyn drugs, diet pills, joint and arthritis pills, stomach pills and vitamins.

TMPACT is currently using authentication technology to identify counterfeit medications and is hoping to work with the Department of Health in the future to combat the issue of fake medications.