Mamba, Storm, Cobra - under such codenames Interpol conducts international operations combating drug counterfeiting. The business is extremely profitable, and the profits from it are comparable to those obtained from drug or weapons trafficking. This problem also applies to Poland …

There is no clear and complete definition ofcounterfeitor counterfeitdietary supplementin European and Polish law. Therefore, it is not known how a product containing an active substance or its structural analogues not declared on the packaging should be treated. This exposes consumers to great danger, serious side effects, interactions with constantly taken medications, etc. He alth problems that arise after taking such drugs are not associated with them, which makes it much more difficult to make a proper diagnosis and treatment.

How many counterfeit drugs are on the market?

The route of smuggling such products to the West runs through our country. Transportation is mainly by post. The goods are packed in small packages, which, as a rule, are not controlled by anyone. This information is confirmed by the report of the European Customs Agency for 2012. A modest-looking shipment, which contains several hundred tablets, usually reaches the trader safely.

Nearly half of the drugs you buy online may be counterfeit. Increasingly, this practice concerns not only dietary supplements, but also life-saving drugs

- It is estimated that around 50 percent the drugs offered on the Internet are counterfeit. According to the WHO, every hundredth drug on the Polish market is counterfeit, and Poles spend PLN 100 million on fakes annually. On a global scale, the counterfeit drug black market is worth $ 200 billion. Interpol indicates that about a million people die each year as a result of taking counterfeit drugs, says Dr.Natalia Daśko from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Newseria Biznes agency.

Neither a doctor, nor a pharmacist, and even less a patient without in-depth, specialized research are able to distinguish a counterfeit medicine from a real one.

Counterfeit drugs cannot be distinguished from legal ones

Counterfeit drugs look the same as the original ones. Counterfeiters copy perfectlydirect packaging (so-called leaves), outer packaging, holograms, etc. Of course, the most difficult thing is to counterfeit the composition of the drug itself. Although the criminals do not care what will be in the capsule, they realize that it should work somehow. There is an active ingredient in many counterfeit medicines, especially when they are planned to be sold on European markets and the business is to be profitable for an extended period of time. If the product is intended for African, Asian or South American countries, most of them contain no substances with medicinal properties at all. And what is? There are only fillers in the tablets, and in the injections - just water; good if without bacteria.

Counterfeit drugs most often: weight loss supplements, birth control pills, antibiotics

Drugs that are expensive and cheap, prescription drugs available without prescription. Most often, antibiotics, vaccines, anti-malaria drugs, anti-asthmatic drugs, contraceptive pills, painkillers, cardiological drugs, and recently also cytostatics are falsified. Popular drugs, such as aspirin, are often the object of interest of counterfeiters.

In 2013, 1.2 million aspirin tablets were seized in France - a product that contained no active ingredient at all. In the USA, on the other hand, a batch of the product was confiscated three times, which contained only water, and was supposed to replace a good, effective and widely used oncology drug.

In Europe, dietary supplements are among the most sold fakes, including slimming agents, drugs that increase potency and steroids taken by bodybuilders. In the years 2012-1013, the first market research (legal and illegal) of dietary supplements for slimming was carried out in Europe. 370 products were analyzed, of which 174 (47%) contained undeclared active pharmaceutical substances.

Sibutramine (an amphetamine derivative, suppresses appetite, withdrawn from the market in 2010 because it increases the risk of heart attack) and its analogues found in 126 supplements, phenylphthalein (a laxative) - in 31 products, sildenafil (a drug for potency) and its analogues - in 13. In addition, 29 other active pharmaceutical substances were identified, including particularly dangerous active substances of antidiabetic drugs (metformin and rimonabant), which can cause hypoglycaemia and even diabetic coma.

Important

Buying drugs at the pharmacy is not a guarantee

There are over 10,000 available on the Polish market. dietary supplements. This is a huge group of funds, considering that we have about 16 thousand drugs. These products contain over 500 ingredients in total. Usemany of them have no substantive justification. Most plant products, nutrients and dietary supplements are not tested for the quality of the ingredients used. The sanitary inspection only checks microbiological purity, the presence of heavy metals and - if the supplement contains plants - pesticides. In 2010, the National Medicines Institute tested 39 supplements, in 2011 - 66, and in 2013 - 8. Thus, in 2010, 80 percent were forged or inconsistent with the declaration. supplements, in 2011 - 20 percent, and in 2013 - 50 percent. The problem is all the more serious as these funds were bought in pharmacies, not via the Internet or at the bazaar.

Why are counterfeit drugs dangerous?

Source: biznes.newseria.p

This will be useful to you

Medicines from the Internet

Today you can buy everything without leaving your home, including medicinal products, medical devices and dietary supplements. Ubiquitous ads encourage you to buy various preparations, supplements or drugs that will miraculously change our lives and improve he alth. Artificially fueled demand guarantees not only large profits for legal manufacturers, but also for criminals who falsify drugs. The global economic analysis of the Consumer He alth industry for 2011-2012 shows that we spend more in total on supplements and nutrients than on OTC and herbal drugs, i.e. approximately USD 90 billion. The global market of falsified and counterfeit medicinal products is estimated at a similar amount. Online business is booming and growing constantly. According to Interpol, illegal e-pharmacies and shops in the US have the most websites (45%). Russia is in second place (20 percent). The next ones are: Germany (15%), Great Britain (6%), the Netherlands (5%), Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania (4%), Luxembourg (3%). In Poland, 2 percent have such a status. pages. Vendors offer counterfeit and counterfeit medicinal products and dietary supplements. In total, it is approx. 54 thousand. domains and 347 million website addresses.

Active substances are added to herbal medicines

In potency drugs, mainly the active substance from a popular and legal drug, i.e. sildenafil or its structural analogues, is falsified. Most of the interested are convinced that they are taking a herbal preparation because there is no information on the presence of the active substance on the packaging. Fake weight loss products advertised as herbal are usually supplemented with the aforementioned sibutramine, a psychotropic compound that blocks the hunger center of the brain. Such a preparation works, but has serious side effects. It causes, among others palpitations, spikes in blood pressure, depression, addiction and hungernarcotic. Diabetes medications (they accelerate glucose metabolism) and phenolphthalein (strongly purges) are also being added to slimming products more and more often.

Consequences of taking counterfeit drugs

In recent years, over 20 documented deaths due to the use of adulterated plant products and dietary supplements have been recorded in EU countries. Structural analogs, i.e. new chemical compounds that differ from the original substance, for example by one carbon or sulfur atom, are extremely dangerous to he alth. They work very similar to the originals or much more powerful. Hence even more serious side effects. So far, 50 such analogs have been identified, and new ones that are difficult to detect are still being developed. The second reason for using analogs is that the supplement cannot contain any active substance, e.g. sildenafil, because it is registered as a drug and the trade in it is illegal. The analog is not an active drug substance, so it is not subject to the rules of pharmaceutical law …

Interpol is chasing illegal drug outlets

Organized in 2013 by Interpol, Operation Pangea against illegal e-pharmacies and e-shops offering counterfeit medicinal products was a great success. The value of drugs confiscated during one week of the campaign was estimated at at least $ 41 million. At that time, 2,100 tablets and ampoules as well as 4.5 kg of powder were seized in Poland, from which further "drugs" were to be made.

Falsifying and distributing illegal drugs is more and more often de alt with by mafia groups, which see it as not only financially excellent, but also quite safe business. The profit is at least the same as from drug trafficking, and the pen alties are disproportionately lower. Drug trafficking in many countries is put in jail for 10-15 years. For trafficking in counterfeit drugs, you go to jail for a year or pay a small fine.

The text uses excerpts from the article by Anna Jarosz from the monthly "Zdrowie".

Category:

Patient's kit