India emerges as center for counterfeit drugs (WP)

[mike r]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091003435.html

India's market in generic drugs also leads to counterfeiting
By Rama Lakshmi

IN NEW DELHI Private investigator Suresh Sati rattled off the popular brand names listed on the boxes of cough syrup, supplements, vitamins and painkillers sprawled across the desk and shelves in his basement office. "They look real, but all these are fakes," said Sati, head of a New Delhi-based agency that helps police conduct raids against counterfeit-drug syndicates across the country. "A regular customer cannot make out if a drug is fake... The biggest giveaway is when someone is selling medicines very cheap. It is almost always fake."

India, the world's largest manufacturer of generic drugs, has become a busy center for counterfeit and substandard medicine. Stuffed in slick packaging and often labeled with the names of such legitimate companies as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Novartis, the fake drugs are passed off to Indian consumers and sold in developing nations around the world. Experts say the global fake-drug industry, worth about $90 billion, causes the deaths of almost 1 million people a year and is contributing to a rise in drug resistance.

Estimates vary on the number of these drugs made in India. The Indian government says that 0.4 percent of the country's drugs are counterfeit and that substandard drugs account for about 8 percent. But independent estimates range from 12 to 25 percent. Indian officials say the clandestine industry has hurt the image of India's booming pharmaceutical industry and its exports worth $8.5 billion a year...

"It is very difficult to dismantle the entire operation," Sati said. "When we bust one operation, two more spring up elsewhere. Convictions are rare." The tricks of the trade include sticking fraudulent labels on expired products, filling vials with water, stuffing small amounts of real ingredients in packages of popular licensed brands and putting chalk power in medicine packets... Over the years, drug companies have used holograms or embossed their logo on the packaging to protect their brands, but these have also been counterfeited in India...

[dkf]

1. You always pick up the juicy stories. Thx!

[izquierdista]

2. Filling vials with water

Soon they will corner the market on homeopathic remedies!

[Doug.Goodall]

3. Maybe they will bring back Quaaludes

I haven't lost a weekend to gorilla biscuits in decades.

[nc4bo]

4. And what about drugs shipped into this country from India....you know, like Walmart's

Colored paper list of really cheap drugs you can get for under $5?

[formercia]

5. I got some of those at Wally World

Indian made Lisinopril...sent me to the emergency room 4 times....switched to Diovan and no more problems.

[nc4bo]

6. Scary, scary stuff!!! Glad you're ok (hopefully). nt

[formercia]

7. I'm fine now and thank you for asking.

although it does serve Big-Pharma's argument that 'Drugs' made overseas are unsafe.

It's not the first time this has happened. I have health insurance through Aetna. I ordered some Lipitor through their mail pharmacy service. They sent me counterfeits that made me very ill, I still have the remainder of the bottle with the counterfeit lot number on the bottle.

[Vehl]

8. Interpol probes fake drugs with 'Made in India' label (manufactured in China)

Nigeria has taken up with the world police organisation Interpol the issue of fake drugs seized in the African country with a "Made in India" label, allegedly originating in China.
"... We have contacted the Interpol, so the Interpol is looking into the case. We hope to get to the bottom of it," National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Director-General Paul Orhii told reporters on Tuesday.

He said the Chinese authorities have asked the Nigerian government for more information regarding the case.

"They (Chinese) are (investigating) and I think they have made some progress," he said. Nigeria was more vigilant and scrutinising Chinese companies more closely after the seizure, he added.

http://publication.samachar.com/pub_article.php?id=4933983&nextids=4933982|4933983|4933984|4933985|4932566&nextIndex=2

'China-made' fake drugs investigated

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) is investigating an allegation by Nigeria that a consignment of drugs labeled 'Made in India' were, in fact, fake pharmaceuticals produced in China, said SFDA spokesperson Yan Jiangying.

The Times of India reported this week that the forged anti-malaria pharmaceuticals were "a large consignment" and that they were seized by the Drug Regulatory Authority (NAFDAC) of Nigeria.

Had the drugs not been intercepted, about 642,000 adults would likely have taken the potentially harmful product, said NAFDAC.

"We are highly concerned about the case and are sending investigating officials to the Chinese provinces involved, including Guangdong," Yan told a press conference.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/13/content_8280574.htm

While i deplore the counterfeit Drugs made in India, I'm doubly shocked by the actions of the Chinese companies that make fake drugs but label it as "made in India". This gives a whole new meaning to the term "cut throat competition". If those fake drugs made in china were not intercepted, 640 000 people would have been affected..and the blame would have fallen on India!

Investigators should also check the origin of any counterfeit drugs...and not just go by the label printed on them. Apparently there is a false flag operation going on as well.