Counterfeit Drugs: Even Traces of Rat Poison Found

last entry – 14 February 2018 – by Roberta Rosaci

Anyone who thinks that the greatest exponents of counterfeiting are clothing or CDs is mistaken. There is an even more involved sector, namely the medicinal one. In fact, it seems that the 50% of drugs for sale on the web is counterfeit, causing a loss of 32 billion euros every year to the global pharmaceutical industry.

From an economic point of view, the counterfeiting of any kind of product is certainly a plague to fight. Only in Italy for example, the counterfeit market is worth 6.9 billion euros, compromising an increase in domestic production of 18.6 billion, in addition to the fact that it subtracts 100,000 jobs and 1.7 billion euros in tax revenue. In short, counterfeit items will cost less, but in Italy, on the other hand, they cost a lot.

The phenomenon in question, however, is even more serious, in that in between is public health. Data presented by the Pharmaceutical Security Institute reveals counterfeit drug 32% contains no active ingredients, 20% contains no active ingredients in the correct amounts, 21,4% is made with the wrong ingredients, and 8,5% contains very high levels of contaminants and impurities . The last category in particular is the most dangerous: traces of chalk, cement powders, rat poison and road paints have even been found in some medicines. Substances that really risk causing significant damage to the people who use them.

In Italy most of the drugs purchased on the Internet are above all those against erectile dysfunction and supplements of various types, from those for weight loss to those for muscle growth, while in the poorest countries, unfortunately, illicit medicines are used to treat even serious diseases such as malaria, by means of drugs which in reality, at best have no effect, and at worst, risk poisoning patients.

A counterfeit medicine can be recognized by some details, starting with the 'crippled' names of famous medicines, the difference in the size of the medicine, the smudges of ink and the boxes with faded colours. However, to stay away from these products, it is sufficient to purchase the medicines in authorized channels, in pharmacies and parapharmacies.