Police seized more than 20 million packs of counterfeit medicines, arrested at least 33 people and closed more than 100 illegal pharmacies in a series of raids in eight Southeast Asian nations coordinated by Interpol.
Counterfeit versions of Pfizer Inc.’s Viagra for erectile dysfunction, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s blood thinner Plavix and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s morning-after pill Plan B were among the products seized, an Interpol officer who coordinated the raids, said Jan. 26 in an e-mail from Jakarta. The haul also included fake aspirin, antibiotics, malaria treatments and hair-loss medicines, she said.
The seizures and arrests, part of an investigation called Operation Storm II, are the second round of raids in two years in Asia as international and local police crack down on widening sales of fake medicines. Sales in the counterfeit-drug industry will jump more than 90 percent to $75 billion this year from 2005 levels, according to the New York-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
Asia is the world’s biggest producer of all counterfeit products, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in 2007 report. About 40 percent of 1,047 arrests related to fake drugs worldwide in 2008 were made in Asia, according to the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Security Institute.
Counterfeits can account for more than 30% of all drugs sold in developing nations and less than 1 percent of all medicines in developed nations such as the U.S., the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce, or IMPACT, said in 2006.
The complete story can be found here:
http://www.latinamericanpost.com/index.php?mod=seccion&secc=5&conn=5950
Counterfeit versions of Pfizer Inc.’s Viagra for erectile dysfunction, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s blood thinner Plavix and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s morning-after pill Plan B were among the products seized, an Interpol officer who coordinated the raids, said Jan. 26 in an e-mail from Jakarta. The haul also included fake aspirin, antibiotics, malaria treatments and hair-loss medicines, she said.
The seizures and arrests, part of an investigation called Operation Storm II, are the second round of raids in two years in Asia as international and local police crack down on widening sales of fake medicines. Sales in the counterfeit-drug industry will jump more than 90 percent to $75 billion this year from 2005 levels, according to the New York-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
Asia is the world’s biggest producer of all counterfeit products, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in 2007 report. About 40 percent of 1,047 arrests related to fake drugs worldwide in 2008 were made in Asia, according to the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Security Institute.
Counterfeits can account for more than 30% of all drugs sold in developing nations and less than 1 percent of all medicines in developed nations such as the U.S., the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce, or IMPACT, said in 2006.
The complete story can be found here:
http://www.latinamericanpost.com/index.php?mod=seccion&secc=5&conn=5950
