Huge fine for fake drug importers

Dubai: The UAE will take concerted steps to stop illegal imports of fake drugs and take stringent steps to root out the trade run by organised criminals, senior officials said here on Tuesday.

According to the World Health Organisation, people are dying across two-thirds of the world because the medicine they are taking is fake.

The huge profits from fake medicines are being funnelled into the drug trade and to gun runners, according to conference participants of a regional meeting on combating counterfeit drugs, which started yesterday.

Dr Hanif Hassan, Minister of Health, said new strategies will be adopted in coordination with regional bodies such as customs organisations and international law enforcement agencies to stop this illegal trade.

One per cent

The criminals are reportedly using Dubai as a hub to funnel the fake drugs to various places. Dr Ameen Al Amiri, CEO for Medical Practice and License, said about one per cent of counterfeit medicine discovered in the European Union came from the UAE.

Of all the goods seized in Dubai, 30 per cent turned out to be fake drugs, he said. The official said the goal is to stop the leaks in the illegal importation and to eradicate the source.

The UAE last year set up a National Committee to Combat Counterfeit Medicines and hopes to soon ratify a new Federal Pharmacy Law that will not only impose huge fines on importers of fake drugs but will also jail them, according to Mohammad Abul Khair, adviser on drugs and medical products at HAAD (Health Authority Abu Dhabi).

"Counterfeiters are no longer mom-and-pop operations but organised criminal enterprises, whose profits flow to illegal organisations and bodies," warned Guy Lallemand, president of Pfizer, Africa and Middle East operations.

"The growth in pharmaceutical counterfeiting is attributable to two key factors — technology and globalisation," he said. Criminals have created a systemised means of copying, producing, marketing, transporting, and distributing counterfeit medicine that makes our families, friends, and the community around us the victims, he added.

Steve Allen, director global security of Pfizer, said counterfeiters do not care what goes in the medicines.

In 2007, Dubai customs seized nearly Dh20 million worth of counterfeit sexual stimulants and sedative drugs, the biggest haul in the region.

Be alert: Study the packaging

How to identify a counterfeit medicine:

- Product is usually much cheaper

- Look for altered expiry date

- Look for differences in fonts and font sizes, print colour or raised print

- Look at colour of tablet or capsule markings and shape of medicine

- Report suspicious cases to (02) 6117391

Can you tell the difference between genuine drugs and ones that are fake? Do you know of any places that sell fake drugs?