Criminals are using the Internet to sell increasing quantities of counterfeit medicines, including fake versions of the bird flu drug - Oseltamivir, better known as Tamiflu. Vitamin and health supplements, so-called lifestyle medications like erectile dysfunction drugs, and steroids bought over the Internet are especially likely to be false. Antibiotics, antimalarials and painkillers are also susceptible to fraud because of the huge demand, while Tamiflu, has also entered the market amid rising avian flu fears. The WHO has estimated as many as 10 percent of drugs on the world market are mislabelled or fake, with the fake medicines sometimes causing illness and even death in consumers. At a meeting in Rome, where pharmaceutical industry and health experts agreed to set up a task force to fight the counterfeit drug trade, the researchers said better oversight of online drug sales was essential. At the meeting, the U.N. health body said it will help set up an international expert group to raise awareness about fake drugs and to improve cooperation among governments, industry groups and international agencies on the issue. Counterfeiting medicines should be distinguished from other types of counterfeiting, which do not affect human health and should be combated and punished accordingly. Fake medicines remain more prevalent in developing countries than in other places.
Reuters Health,
February 2006