International suppliers of fake drugs convicted
Counterfeit Viagra tablets from an unrelated seizure by the MHRA |
Ashish Halai, of Elstree, Hertfordshire, has been jailed for four and a half years after being convicted of conspiracy to deal in counterfeit medicines. Mr Halai was found guilty this week at Kingston Crown Court on 11 charges under the Medicines Act 1968 and the Trade Marks Act 1994.
The prosecution of Mr Halai and eight other individuals, including a
pharmacist — three of whom were also convicted and await sentence — was
launched after the seizure of counterfeit Viagra tablets by customs officers
at Stansted airport in autumn 2002. A number of further seizures of counterfeit
medicines being imported under false descriptions were subsequently made
at Stansted and Heathrow airports.
The convicted men filtered fake medicines to community pharmacies through
licensed pharmaceutical wholesalers and offered them for sale through
internet sites operating both in the UK and overseas.
In 2004,
counterfeit Cialis sold by them made its way into the regulated
supply chain and was supplied to patients by community pharmacies, resulting
in a recall of the legitimate product (PJ, 28 August 2004, p277 and 283).
It was a patient’s complaint to Lilly that his tablets were crumbly
that led to the discovery of the fake batch.
The convicted men were part of a global counterfeiting network operating
from China, India and Pakistan and extending to the US and the Bahamas.
The other four people charged, including pharmacist Rajendra Shah, of
St Albans, face a retrial.
Mike Deats, head of enforcement at the Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency, said: “This successful prosecution should serve
as a clear signal to those contemplating the supply of counterfeit medicines.”
Mr Halai’s wife, Nayna Halai, a pharmacist, pleaded guilty earlier
this year to four charges of selling genuine medicines by wholesale without
a wholesale dealer’s licence. She was sentenced to a period of
community service.
David Pruce, director of practice and quality improvement at the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society, said that the pharmacists involved in the case
were under investigation by the Society.
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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