The epidemic of fake medicines
The Deadly Pill
Experts believe that the trade in counterfeit medicines annually brings billions of dollars to Russian criminals. Thus, according to the Al Jazeera English TV channel, "pirates" use online stores, and attempts by the authorities to stop the trade in counterfeit drugs often turn out to be fruitless.
According to analysts, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs are most often faked. Until recently, about 12% of medicines in circulation in Russia were fake, according to the Al Jazeera English TV channel. According to Valentina Kosenko from the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia, the level of counterfeit medicines is very high. "It is very difficult to determine the difference purely by appearance, so we check them in the laboratory," the official says.
Most often, attackers sell counterfeit medicines through special websites created on the Internet, whose servers, according to the police, are most likely located in China.
According to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, for the first time operatives faced the problem of counterfeit medicines in the country at the end of 1997. Then only one batch of the blood substitute drug reopoliglyukin, forged on the territory of Russia, was identified. According to operatives, since then more than 200 cases of falsification of various medicines have been registered. Now in Russia every fifth medicine is a fake.
According to operatives, selling burnt pills is almost twice as profitable as heroin and cocaine. It is possible to sell counterfeit medicines with almost impunity: after all, as we have already mentioned, there is no such thing as a "falsified medicinal product" in the legislation. "If there is no article, there is no crime," the police say. Therefore, most often they try to attract fraudsters under Article 180 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – illegal use of a trademark.
Now experts estimate the annual turnover of the "black market" of medicines at $ 300 million, while about 60% of fakes are made in underground workshops in Russia itself, the rest are brought from India, China, and Southeast Asian countries, the Russian Interior Ministry says. According to detectives, the most dangerous thing is that the list of counterfeit drugs most often includes drugs such as antibiotics, medications for the treatment of gastrointestinal and cardiovascular diseases, lesions of the endocrine and nervous system, painkillers.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, up to 15% of counterfeit medicines are sold in some regions. Counterfeit goods are sold, as a rule, by one-day firms, mobile pharmacy kiosks. The police warn that you should not buy medicines from your hands, in stalls on the street, but pharmacies are not insured against fakes either. Roszdravnadzor says: the share of fakes does not exceed one tenth of a percent. However, experts call other figures, from 7 to 20%.
Pharmacists say that buying through pharmacies does not insure against the purchase of a fake. Now more than ten thousand drugs are sold through pharmacies in Russia. Aspirin alone is sold in 50 names, and which one can be consumed, but no coca, a special analysis can find out, experts are sure.
According to Diana Mikhailova, Director of the Department for the Development of the pharmaceutical market and the medical equipment market of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia, you can protect yourself from fakes. "To do this, you should not buy medicines in online stores - 50% of the counterfeit is sold online. If the medicine is quite expensive, for some serious disease, then you should not look for where it is sold much cheaper. Most likely, it is a fake. Therefore, for consultation it is necessary to contact a specialist pharmacist or pharmacist," says Mikhailova.
Operatives divide counterfeit medicines into four types.
The first is a "dummy drug", which does not contain any active medicinal substance at all. Theoretically, the use of such a placebo drug is not dangerous. Although, if you take a pacifier instead of nitroglycerin during a heart attack, it is quite possible to die from a heart attack.
The second type is "imitation drug". The active substance in it is usually replaced with a cheaper and less effective one. This is the most dangerous fake: there is no guarantee that the replacement will not be deadly in your case.
The third type is "drug change". They contain the same substance as in the original, but in larger or smaller quantities. This is also a dangerous thing, you are not guaranteed either the therapeutic effect of the drug or the absence of side effects from an overdose.
And finally, now the most common type of forgery in Russia is the fourth type – "copy drug". It contains the same substances as in the original, and in the same quantities. However, where and from whom an unknown manufacturer bought the substance for production is unknown. At first glance innocent, this kind of fake is more dangerous than a "dummy". There is no guarantee of quality control. In other words, buying such a fake, you rely on the conscience of an underground pharmacist. Only does he have a conscience…
According to analysts, the annual turnover of counterfeit medicines in Russia is estimated at $ 300 million. And the Russian budget loses about $2.5 billion annually due to the illegal turnover of counterfeit products. This amount is made up of those funds that the budget does not receive taxes if medicines sold by intruders, imported drugs were legally imported into Russia, and domestic ones were produced at enterprises.
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19.01.2012