Policy/Enforcement News

The government in Taiwan is currently cracking down on a rapid proliferation in the trade of fake drugs, the China Post reports. Taiwanese Health Minister Yang Chih-liang said during a press conference that counterfeit drugs posed a more serious problem than drug trafficking. The government has been strongly cracking down on counterfeit drugs since March,…

The beginning of a criminal investigation by Russian authorities in Moscow of a prominent spammer has resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of spam advertising from illegal online pharmacies, reports the New York Times. The center of the investigation, Igor A. Gusev, has been linked to the website “SpamIt”, an organization that provides…

A new agency has been set up in Liberia to combat illegal trade in counterfeit drugs in the country. A representative of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime told Voice of America that counterfeit drug crime is currently on the rise in West Africa. This puts patients at increased risk of malaria, the leading cause of…

Authorities in Kenya will soon institute regulations on the operations of herbalists who sell counterfeit drugs wrongly described as herbal remedies to patients, reports Business Daily Africa. “The regulations will require that herbalists register their medicines and that those medicines have to go for laboratory analysis,” Edward Abwao – assistant chief pharmacist at the Pharmacy and…

Local Nigerian authorities recently shut down more than 1,200 illegal pharmacies in Lagos for selling substandard and counterfeit drugs. The Lagos State Task Force on Counterfeit, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods reportedly shut down 1,253 illegal pharmaceutical outlets at Idumota, at the Lagos Central Business District (LCBD) on Lagos Island, according to the newspaper…

Counterfeit drugs are becoming an increasingly serious problem in Vietnam but there are stern punishments in place for those who are caught dealing in this nefarious trade, according to Viet Nam News. The news source reports that Vietnam’s Criminal Code has sentencing guidelines that provide for two to seven years of imprisonment for those caught…

A man from Missouri recently pleaded guilty to federal charges of distributing counterfeit drugs. Mark Hughes was accused of ordering fake erectile dysfunction medication from overseas and then sold them in an illegal, unlicensed pharmacy and on the street, according to the

Eastern Europe plays a major role in the counterfeit drug trade, said experts at a recent regional meeting. The two-day meeting was held in the capital of Romania, Bucharest, featured more than 120 anti-counterfeit specialists from Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine, reports AFP. Hungarian customs officer Karolyi Szep said that Eastern…

A man was recently caught trying to smuggle more than 5,000 doses of counterfeit drugs into Israel. Authorities seized Chen Ben-Zion at Ben Gurion International Airport, after seeing the counterfeit drugs in an x-ray scanner, according to Haaretz.com. Ben-Zion arrived in Israel on a flight from Georgia. Authorities pulled him aside and told him that he…

A doctor in the Philippines is facing charges of expired, smuggled and counterfeit drugs. Edwin Pinili of the Pinili Clinic in Calumpang village is facing charges from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD), according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Dominic Cerro, special investigator of the NBI’s Sarangani District…