German authorities have filed charges against pharmacies in the north of the country that have been suspected of purchasing cheap and illegal active ingredients, which they have used to manufacture in-house cancer treatment preparations and then sold them to the general public.
Frank Keller, chief investigator of the Technician's Health Insurance Fund (TKK), as saying that the fund had been tipped off that a Danish wholesaler had been supplying German pharmacies with an unauthorized active ingredient for the preparation of an infusion used in cancer treatment. Some 100 of the 400 pharmacies authorized to manufacture the preparation in-house are suspected of having purchased the cheap, illegal product from the wholesaler.
Separately, Alexander Retemeyer from the Office of Public Prosecution in Osnabruck, revealed that he had tracked a local wholesaler, which had sourced illegal products from Eastern Europe and then sold them to pharmacies.
In the latest revision to the Pharmaceutical Act, the German government has put in place measures to sanction those who introduce counterfeits into the health system. The European Union is also concerned about the increase of falsified medicines emerging in the Member States. Figures from the Directorate General for Taxation and Customs show that counterfeit medicines accounted for 10 percent of goods seized upon entering the EU. Almost 75 percent of these were shipped from the United Arab Emirates.
In April, the European Parliament's Environment Committee approved the European Commission's proposal for fighting counterfeit medicines. The committee added a stipulation to the draft, which insists that in addition to preventing counterfeits from entering the legal supply chain and introducing mandatory safety features for prescription medicines, the legislation should prohibit internet sales of “detrimental products.” The EU Parliament will vote on the draft proposal in October.
