Hamburg Seeks Stronger Penalties for Drug Counterfeiters
FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg seeks stronger penalties to fight counterfeit drug trafficking, saying, “We need legal authorities to give teeth to our action. We are increasingly concerned that this is becoming an attractive area for bad guys, including organized crime,” reported The Financial Times.
Dr. Hamburg told the Financial Times that current penalties for peddling fake medicines were the same as those for selling fake handbags, and weaker than punishments for illict drug sellers.
Said Ms. Hamburg, “We need to really strengthen the integrity of the supply chain to really be able to assure safe passage of products through the complex network of packagers and distributors and redistributors and importers.”
She also said that the FDA needs more cooperation with regulators worldwide and that industry “has to be accountable” for the integrity of their supply chains.