Counterfeit medicines also in pharmacies

Counterfeit medicines in North German pharmacies. The illegal drugs are sold not only on the Internet, but now in normal pharmacies.

(08.08.2010) According to information from the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), illegal counterfeit medicines are not only distributed on the Internet, but also in German pharmacies. Thus, according to the NDR magazine "market" in about 100 pharmacies fake medicines were sold and billed illegally. The prosecutor Braunschweig has already brought charges against at least one pharmacy. The total damage to health care is likely to go into the millions, because even the Braunschweig pharmacist is accused of having legally billed drugs worth 1.7 million euros.

Illegal drugs not only on the Internet, but now in German pharmacies.
A few years ago, the illegal trade in counterfeit medicines started on the Internet. Was it then the well-known sexual enhancer "Viagra" that was forged, there are already a variety of different medicines today. Among them are also vital drugs such as antibiotics, painkillers but also Krebspräperate. Meanwhile, the illegal drug market is spreading not only on the Internet, because the public prosecutor's offices Hamburg, Celle, Verden, Kiel and Braunschweig investigate against a variety of pharmacies. According to NDR television, around 100 pharmacies throughout Germany are said to have passed on counterfeit drugs to patients. Thereafter, the medicines should also have been billed wrongly at the health insurance.

The whole thing was flown through a wholesaler. He wanted to get out and put the delivery notes at the disposal of the investigating authorities. These delivery notes included illegal drug imports from abroad. "Here we have learned for the first time that in Germany unauthorized drugs have been delivered by pharmacists," said the investigator of the Techniker health insurance Frank Keller to the NDR.

How do pharmacists calculate counterfeit medicines??
But how can the pharmacists bill the counterfeit medicines? The pharmacists buy first on the so-called "gray market" cost-effective agents that are not approved in the Federal Republic. Subsequently, the illegally acquired active ingredients are individually mixed with the patient and billed to the health insurance companies at very high prices.

But according to further research counterfeit medicines are not only produced abroad. Meanwhile, there are also producers in Germany, which now produce muscle building supplements and dietary supplements also antibiotics or painkillers. These counterfeit medicines are then sold on the internet.

Fake medicines not only harm the health insurance, but could also endanger the health of the patients. The sources of the counterfeit medicines are not under the control of the regulatory authorities. If you can not even trust the pharmacies, who can? The NDR will report next Monday in the show "market" on more facts and figures. The program starts at 20:15 on NDR3. (Sb)

Also read:
ABDA: pilot project against counterfeit medicines
Increased warnings about drug risks
Greater dimensions in the fraud with cancer drugs?

Picture: siepmannH, Pixelio.de