by Playfuls Staff |
27th March 2006
The European Commission on Monday warned consumers against buying a counterfeited diet-pill known as Rimonabant on the internet, saying copies of the drug - which is still pending medical approval - were a threat to health. [more]
The commission - the European Union's executive arm - said the marketing of fake versions of Rimonabant was further proof that criminals were using the anonymity of the internet to sell adulterated and unlicensed medicines to an unsuspecting public.
"This is putting lives at risk as well as undermining the pharmaceutical industry," the commission said.
The French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis plans to market Rimonabant under the name Acomplia following its approval by the European Medicines Agency.
The drug is also said to help people quit smoking and stop abusing drugs and alcohol. "Counterfeits may include fakes which do not contain any of the medicine or the wrong medicine," the commission warned.
Fake versions of about 170 medicines have been marketed over the past five years, the commission said. These include lifestyle drugs, growth hormones for bodybuilders and sleeping pills.
Unauthorised copies of the male sex-drive boosting drug Viagra, and the anti-viral Tamiflu have also been on the sales lists of criminal counterfeits, the EU executive said.
The International Narcotics Control Board last month highlighted a growing problem with medicines sold over the internet. Legal but unprescribed pharmaceuticals as well as illegal drugs were being ordered online and sent to the buyer through the post.
Sending drugs by post was certainly not new, but the scale of the activities had grown enormously, the agency said.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
