Manipulated medicines enter the pharmacy, but then the damage to Health in case of patients can be large. With the counterfeit Drug Criminals earn a lot of million. Now you have a new protection system is to set the EU the craft.
Fakes disorders in a medicine for respiratory complaints, manipulations with drugs against Hepatitis C virus, and stomach, an illegal Viagra potency pills, the customs authorities at the border to the network: time and time again Criminals try to bring drug counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical trade. And on the black market gangs make a lucrative business: The profit margins are bigger than in the drug trade with cocaine or Heroin.
New safety features for medicines
Now new obstacles to complicate the practice. Next Saturday (9. February) is launching a new protection system in Europe, the safety characteristics of medicines prescribing. Prescription medicines must carry a Barcode on the package, by Scanning in the pharmacy, the authenticity check, such as the Federal Institute for drugs and medical devices (BfArM). In addition, an opening is not intended to guarantee protection such as a seal label that boxes are opened or pills have been repackaged. The falsification Directive, a EU regulation from 2011.
To be spent each year in Germany, more than 750 million packages of prescription medicines in public pharmacies. The number of counterfeits in the legal supply chain from the manufacturer through wholesalers to the pharmacies was low, explained by the BfArM. 2018 would be less than ten suspected cases reported. But in each case, a number of packs could be affected, in addition, a dark permanent number. The ingestion of counterfeit Medicine could "serious health Auswirkungen" have, warns the authority.
Would be manipulated, active compounds and compositions, but also indications of origin. "In the case of the fakes were usually original goods which have been illegally repackaged or original goods from theft, in the legal distribution chain introduced wurde", Maik Pommer, a spokesman at the BfArM declared.
Particularly popular with Criminals, drug
Far greater is the Problem with tampering in the illegal trade, such as the Internet or smuggled goods. The global Operation Pangea 2018 customs and police authorities in Germany, around 1200 packages and letter mail within one week from the traffic. 100,000 tablets, capsules and ampoules went to the network, including forbidden food, supplements and pain medication.
Particularly popular with Criminals: sexual enhancer. With a kilogram of let on the black market between 90,000 and 100,000 Euro, it was estimated that the Federal criminal police office. In the case of Heroin, there were 50,000 euros. In addition, traded, Viagra cost illegal drug only 60 Euro per Kilo, while for the Heroin of raw materials would be around 7000 euros.
For the pharmaceutical industry, counterfeiting is painful. In the EU the industry to lose around 10 billion euros in sales per year, said the office of the European Union intellectual property in 2016. Well, a billion was accounted for by German manufacturers. For this purpose, the image damage caused to companies by Criminals.
Consumers benefit
In a global comparison, the Federal Republic is affected but little of drug counterfeiting – also, because the pharmaceutical industry is strictly regulated. In the traffic, only officially-approved drugs, including the manufacture, distribution and use, monitored, says the Federal Association of the Pharmaceutical industry (BPI). In addition, drug manufacturers have security features such as holograms or micro-writings on medicine packages.
In the future, but to automatically start an Alarm in the pharmacy, if there is a Manipulation appears: The authenticity of audit in Germany has built the club Securpharm, a merger of pharmaceutical and pharmacists associations. Each pack has an individual serial number that is fed into the System. With the Scan of the Codes in the Europe-wide database allows you to check whether a manufacturer has assigned the number, or perhaps a pack with the same number already over the counter went.
For the industry it is a mammoth project: 19.345 pharmacies, 346 pharmaceuticals companies, 887 wholesalers and 406 hospital pharmacies in Germany are connected according to the Securpharm to the System. "The implementation of counterfeit protection Directive is one of the largest infrastructure projects of the drug supply in Europa", the Association stated. The pharmaceutical industry Association BPI estimates that the investments alone, the company more than a billion euros.
Consumers will come to Good. The packing-Scan displays in the pharmacy suspected cases, you will receive a different box of the drug. And in the Europe-wide System that can be traced back, where the fake resources into the supply chain, explains Securpharm. Stolen Product is then locked.