Australians Catch 24 Packages of Fake Drugs Every Month

Australian customs officials in Queensland have stopped 288 packages containing counterfeit medications in the past twelve months, an increase of 7 fold from the previous year.

Consumers concerned about costs, or purposefully circumventing the prescription process, have been purchasing everything from weight-loss pills to opiates on line. In many case, the drugs are marketed using commercial brands, but are counterfeits, reports the Courier-Mail.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has evaluated three packages every week for the past three years, or over 450 packages of suspicious medication intercepted by Customs.

Medications that are not covered by the Australian health insurance are often purchased from online vendors overseas. These medications are often “counterfeit and possibly harmful substances. Worst case scenario is that they put in another drug that’s not appropriate for your health condition. What’s a lot more common is that you don’t get the dose stated on the box, you get half or 1/3 of the dose,” says Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s Queensland President Tim Logan.

Large-scale importers risk up to seven years in jail and $550,000 in fines.

Worldwide officials are concerned about the prevalence of counterfeit medications: The World Health Organization warns counterfeit drugs can be deadly and US authorities have estimated global sales hit $75 billion last year.

TGA said it can monitor local suppliers, but medicine purchased from overseas via the internet is not reliable.

“The large majority of incidents involving counterfeit medicines are … normally small quantities by parcel posts from overseas internet sites,” a TGA spokesman said.

By S. Imber