Data sheet
Id Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals with Portable Raman
Rigaku
Guy Villax, board member of the EFCG, talks falsified APIs, EU efforts to tackle the issue, and the presence of gangsters in the pharma industry in an in-PharmaTechnologist video interview.
In an interview at CPhI 2010 in Paris, France Villax said emails promoting fake drugs are the tip of the counterfeiting iceberg. For the past five years the European Fine Chemicals Group (EFCG) has worked to expose what lies below the waterline – falsified APIs.
Villax said following a number of catastrophes, such as heparin contamination, regulators are clearly aware of the severity of the situation but communication remains complicated.
“It’s complicated to explain to legislators and politicians because nobody would imagine that in an industry like pharmaceuticals, you’d have gangsters”, said Villax.
Creation of the Falsified Medicines Directive is part of European efforts to tackle the problem. Villax said the three key points for the EFCG are: mandatory inspections of overseas API plants; a definition of falsified medicines that takes APIs into account; and country of origin labelling.
1 comment (Comments are now closed)
Certified Fraud Examiner
Criminals are determined to expand their criminal enterprise into an international, border free, hidden businesses with the consumer taste for cheap, inexpensive price, and demand.
Report abuse
Posted by M782427
21 October 2010 | 17h20