Headline Sep24,2012

''THE QUICK AND THE DEAD!''

The Global Trade alone in Counterfeit Medicines is worth Pound 45billion. The World Health Organisation estimates that 18/cent of all drugs sold are fake, an the Center for Medicine in the Public interest estimates that the Industry is expanding at around 15%  a year --that is nearly twice the pace of the legitimate industry.

Zhang takes pride in the superficial authenticity of his produce. Hidden away behind a photo processing shop in Luoyang, the commercial center of Henan province,and a former imperial capital, he has a small printing works where a team reproduces the art-work of brand-name drugs on Apple Macs. ''Producing the pills themselves is relatively easy.'' he says, ''but if the packaging isn't good enough you can't sell it for full price at a Chemist's shop in the West.''

Given the priorities of medicine men like Zhang, it's little wonder that an estimated 192,000 annual deaths in China are attributed to counterfeit Drugs. Bogus HIV and Malaria treatments are bought by hundreds of thousands of people in Africa and Far East, where about 50/cent of medicines are estimated to be totally Fake. But counterfeit drugs can no longer be dismissed as a ''Third World Problem''.Since 2004, there have been over 13 major breaches of security in the UK in which tens of thousands of packets of imitation brand-name products --so called ''blockbuster'' drugs --have seeped into the system, sold at high-street pharmacies and even doled out by the NHS.

In some cases, the counterfeiters have managed to do this by exploiting the system of ''parallel trade'' in medicine, by which drug wholesalers buy low-cost pharmaceuticals in one EU country then export them for sale in another, such as the UK, where they command higher prices. The rugs usually have to be repackaged and this is the point fake drugs can most easily be introduced in the supply chain.

The drugs at the centre of the biggest fake medicine plot so far uncovered in Britain also made their way into the country also mae their way into the country via the Persian Gulf. Ashish Halai was jailed for four and half years for importing and distributing huge quantities of fake anti baldness drug Propecia in a multimillion pound scam. The 33 year old Kenya born ring leader, his wife Nyna and their associates Gary Haywood. Ashwin Patel and Zahid Mirza made an estimated pound 5million buying fake drugs for as little as 25p/tablet then selling it over the Internet for up to pound 20/pill. These criminals also supplied a Mexican company in the Bahamas, from where they were sold in the US.

These Merchants of Death have just no concerns, feelings, Fear or Shame. So in the best interest of humanity please share this post with the whole world. Even a single life saved is worth the effort.Have a great weekend!

Good Night and God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless