South Korea battles counterfeit medication smuggling

South Korea estimates the quantity of counterfeit erectile dysfunction (ED) medication smuggled into the country is 23 times greater than five years ago, according to the Korea Herald.

The National Tax Service (NTS) has detected 18 cases of smuggled impotence medicine worth 90.6 billion won ($77 million) in total for the first six months of 2010, and is expected to rise further by the end of the year. Over 99 percent of the smuggled medication were counterfeit versions of erectile dysfunction drugs, allegedly manufactured in China.

“The NTS detects the smuggled medicine by randomly inspecting some 10 percent of the imported cargo,” said Rep. Lee, a member of the parliamentary health, welfare and family affairs committee. “The actual amount of illicitly circulated medicine is expected to be much higher.”

According to local police, ED medications have been circulated in bulk in local black markets. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s international crime department arrested an ethnic Korean man from China for smuggling and circulating fake ED medication. The smuggler packed 270,000 pills, worth 4.2 billion won in total, in a cargo container and sent them to Korea through the international delivery service. The fake pills were not only ineffective in curing men’s sexual impotence but often caused medical side effects.

Customers were easily fooled by the smuggled pills as they displayed the exact same packaging as the original. However, the government warns that the imitation impotence pills may either include an illegal overdose of active ingredients or toxic substances such as mercury or lead.

Under the present law, impotence cure pills may only be purchased in pharmacies with a medical doctor’s prescription, but the potential takers are easily attracted to the black market out of privacy concerns, said officials.