Global hit to illegal meds
May 26, 2014
IN a coordinated global campaign,
the Australian Customs and Border
Protection Service (ACBPS) and the
Therapeutic Goods Administration
(TGA) helped in a week of action
against the trade in couterfeit and
illegal medicines purchased over
the internet.
‘Operation Pangea’ involved
authorities from more than 100
countries, including the US Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) and
the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulatory Agency
(MHRA), which resulted in seizures
totalling about £18.6m ($33.9m)
globally, the MHRA said.
In Australia, ACBPS officers seized
51 packages including more than
21,000 units of counterfeit or
illegal medicines at the Sydney
and Melbourne International
mail centres, posted from various
countries overseas, with one unit
being one tablet, pill, ampoule, one
litre of liquid medicine or one kg or
raw material.
A large number of seized
substances being erectile
dysfunction or weight loss
medications, the TGA and ACBPS
said.
TGA national manager Professor
John Skerritt said this was a
reminder for consumers of the
risks of purchasing medicines from
overseas websites, with the TGA
advising extreme caution when
doing so.
The MHRA said the crackdown
resulted in 237 arrests worldwide,
targeting 10,603 websites.
UK seizures showed the most
commonly seized drugs were
erectile dysfunction medicines at
1.2m doses, slimming products
at 383,000 and drugs such as
sleeping pills, tranquilisers and
antidepressants at 330,996 doses.
The FDA and the US Customs and
Border Protection also investigated
international mail facilities in the
US, with the detention or seizure
of 19,618 packages containing
medicines said to be from Australia,
the UK, New Zealand and Canada,
but actually containing unapproved
or suspected counterfeit drugs
from other countries such as India,
China, Australia and the UK.
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