Half of Lipitor recalled in counterfeit scare was fake
Genuine Lipitor (above) was less than half of what was recovered
from the legitimate supply chain |
Over 50 per cent of Lipitor (atorvastatin) packs recalled from pharmacies by Pfizer in a counterfeit scare last year were
fake (PJ,
6 August 2005, p155).
This was revealed during a House of Commons debate
on counterfeit medicines last week by Charles Walker (Con., Broxbourne).
Mr Walker said that a “Bermuda triangle” of medicine supply
had been formed by parallel trade, counterfeits and online pharmacies.
There were now 2,300 websites selling drugs directly to the consumer
and the four most advertised drugs were Viagra (sildenafil), Adipex (phentermine),
Xenical (orlistat) and Propecia (finasteride), he said.
“In the UK, internet pharmacies pose a growing threat to public
health,” he
said. “They are largely unregulated. In the best case these illegal
pharmacies are dispensing sugar and, in the worst case, poison.”
Responding, health minister Jane Kennedy said that 103 cases involving
internet sales of counterfeit medicines were currently being investigated
by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
She said that the agency would “not hesitate in taking appropriate
enforcement action” for illegal supply and pointed to 12 prosecutions
since 2000.
Mrs Kennedy agreed that the counterfeit trade was increasingly being
taken over by organised criminals who were “growing in enterprise
and sophistication”.
She said: “It is certainly true that some websites offering medicines
belong to unscrupulous vendors
… who sell unlicensed and prescription-only medicines and counterfeit
drugs that are potentially harmful.
“That is particularly true of so-called lifestyle drugs — medicines
aimed at male impotence, slimming products or hair loss products. We
are keen to ensure that the public make informed choices about their
health, and they need to be aware that products purchased in that way
cannot be guaranteed for safety, quality or efficacy.
“Given the uncontrolled nature of the internet, and the fact that
many sites will be based abroad, a key aim is to ensure that the public
understand
the risks of buying medicines from such sites and are warned against
them.”
She said that the MHRA was targeting information and advice with respect
to specific products, and liaised with other regulatory and enforcement
agencies at home and abroad. It was leading a Europe-wide counterfeit
Tamiflu surveillance project and recently seized 6,800 packets of the
medicine in London with a retail value of over £1m.
Mrs Kennedy added that the legitimate supply chain in the UK was tightly
controlled and internationally recognised as difficult to penetrate.
She said that there was little evidence that parallel traders had been
used to get counterfeit products into the UK. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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