EU sets out plans to make it easier to spot counterfeit medicines
The proliferation of counterfeit drugs on the global market and easy availability via online pharmacies is an increasing problem. The makers of counterfeit drugs have enjoyed and profited from loopholes in a system designed to deliver healthy medicines to those in need. The rising cost of prescription medications and the ubiquitous presence of online and overseas pharmacies means more people than ever are threatened by these counterfeiting operations.Consultation has started on plans (PDF, 61K)to make it harder for counterfeit medicines to circulate in the EU and to make it easier to spot them when they do.
Central to the proposals, which were published on 11 March by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry, is a plan to make European pharmaceutical law apply to everyone who trades in medicines in the EU, whether or not they actually handle products or even intend to place them on the European market. This would mean that brokers, agents and traders who only use Europe as a staging post in the distribution of medicines from one country to anotherwould be subject to the same requirements as manufacturers and wholesalers.
29 March 2008