SecuringPharma: Medicine Seizures by EU Customs Rise Again in 2009

Phil Taylor in a July 23rd post in SecuringPharma.com writes about the increase in the seizure of pharmaceuticals from 2008 to 2009.

Although overall there were fewer detained shipments from 2008 to 2009 apparently “the downturn did not extend to medicinal products”.

Also in the blog, Mr. Taylor adds some curious statistics as to what countries lead the way in originating and presumably supplying many of the interdicted medications.

It would appear that the criminal elements behind counterfeiting must be realizing the high profit and low risk associated with pharmaceutical counterfeiting which means a far higher risk to consumers everywhere.

Secure Pharma Chain encourages all regulatory and pharmaceutical supply chain members utilize solutions and technologies such as XStream Systems’ XT250 to authenticate and secure supply chain transactions and inventories to protect the end use consumers.

Here are some of the highlights and interesting statistics from Mr. Taylor’s post:

· Customs officers in the European Union detained fewer shipments suspected of infringing intellectual property rights in 2009 compared to 2008, but sadly that downturn did not extend to medicinal products.

· Overall medicines accounted for around 10 per cent of all the 118 million articles intercepted by EU customs last year, and 8 per cent of the 43,500 individual cases.

· In absolute terms, the number of seized medical products rose to around 11.5 million from a little under 9 million in 2008, which in turn was double the number in 2007.

· The origins of the intercepted medicine shipments also makes interesting reading with 74 per cent of the articles coming from United Arab Emirates - a well-known hub for goods in transit from other markets into the EU - and 23 per cent coming from India.

· China featured highly among other industrial sectors such as apparel and electronics, but was the source in just 1.4 per cent of medicinal product detentions. The only other country of origin worth mentioning was Syria, with around 1 per cent of the total.

To read SecuringPharma’s post, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/532.php.

To learn more about supply chain security technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

MHRA Press Release: £150,000 Fake Drug Stash Seized in Sting Operation

MHRA, the United Kingdom’s agency responsible medicines and medical devices work, released a press announcement regarding a large seizure of counterfeit, unlicensed medicines and controlled drugs in London on June 9th.

The following is the Press Release from MHRA:

Counterfeit and unlicensed medicines, along with controlled drugs to the street value of approximately £150,000, were seized by the MHRA yesterday as part of a simultaneous raid on six locations across London, and two in Yorkshire with the assistance of local police.

Six people in the UK believed to be linked to a gang in Asia were arrested in connection with the illegal sale and supply of a range of medicinal products, most of which are suspected to be counterfeit.

Information was initially passed to the MHRA by pharmaceutical manufacturers Pfizer, Lilly and Sanofi-Aventis.

MHRA Head of Intelligence Nimo Ahmed said, “Large boxes containing counterfeit and unlicensed medicines together with packaging, computers and cash were seized and the suspect medicines will now be sent to government laboratories to assess their authenticity.

“The products seized relate to treatment for depression, erectile dysfunction, as well as painkillers, sedatives and injectable anabolic steroids.

“At this stage it is suspected that these medicines would have been supplied illegally over the internet.”

Mr. Ahmed said people should be vigilant when buying medicines online and should only do so from registered websites that clearly display a contact name, number, the logo from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB), and from premises that are registered with the RPSGB. Buying medicines from unregistered websites is dangerous as people would not know what they are actually taking. The dosages could be either too high or too low, or worse, the tablet could contain harmful ingredients.

“Better still, the safest way to obtain Prescription Only Medicines is from a ‘bricks and mortar’ pharmacy following a consultation with a GP or a healthcare professional,” he said.

“Those involved in this type of criminality do not care about your health. They are only in it for one reason, and that is to make money.”

The MHRA are grateful for the assistance provided by the Metropolitan Police, West Yorkshire Police, South Yorkshire Police and the pharmaceutical manufacturers in this case.

This seizure is an excellent example of the continued proliferation of counterfeit medications within developed countries and sophisticated pharmaceutical supply chains. Since 2006 the MHRA has seized more than £6 million worth of counterfeit medicines.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog endorses continued regulation and enforcement related to fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medications and encourages all within the supply chain, including regulatory agencies to deploy solutions and technologies to protect their inventories and consumers from the deadly effects of this criminal act.

To read the entire Press Release on the MHRA website, visit: http://www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/Pressreleases/CON084731.

To learn more about anti-counterfeiting technologies, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.