EU to trace pharmaceuticals in crackdown on fakes
By Huw Jones
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Pharmaceuticals in the European Union will be traceable from factory to pharmacy in a bid to crack down on the rise in counterfeit drugs, which are potentially lethal, the bloc’s executive said on Wednesday.
EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said the 27-nation bloc used to be a transit area for counterfeit medicines being shipped to third countries but was now a target.
“It’s a huge threat to public health and can cost people’s lives in some cases,” Verheugen told the European Parliament.
“The (European) Commission will come up with a legal act to tighten up the framework,” Verheugen said.
The Commission has said Switzerland, home to some of the world’s top pharmaceutical firms, surprisingly topped the table of origins of fake medicines, ahead of India.
European consumers are also ordering more pirated products, notably fake Viagra, over the Internet.
Verheugen said the new EU rules will document all the points in a drug’s lifespan, from sourcing its active ingredients to manufacture and distribution to pharmacies.
“The technical solutions required to ensure traceability of medicines already exist,” Verheugen said. Continued…
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Related Posts:
If you feel hard to get erection and cannot maintain it, then you have to take Viagra, which is considered to be one of the best drugs in the market. Taking Viagra will give you the perfect pleasure when you are with your partner. An oral drug, viagra is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor. This erectile deficiency forces
Full Post: Get hard erection with Viagra
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission confirmed on Thursday it had raided the French premises of a business association and an enterprise both active on the biomedical analysis market, on suspicion of cartel activity. The raids were carried out on Wednesday by Commission inspectors accompanied by officials at the French competition authority, it said. The parties
Full Post: EU exec raids suspected French biomedical cartel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Authorities in nine countries have raided businesses suspected of supplying medicines illegally over the Internet in an unprecedented global swoop coordinated by Interpol, officials said on Thursday. The operation, codenamed Pangea, involved dozens of locations in Britain, Germany, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada and the United States. The raids on
Full Post: Internet drug peddlers raided in 9 countries
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Emma Graham-Harrison BEIJING (Reuters) - Washington plans to check Chinese food for bugs and toxins before it even sets sail for the United States, as part of a strategy to keep consumers safe in the face of global trade challenges, the U.S. Health Secretary said on Tuesday. Mike Leavitt, speaking ahead of the opening of Food
Full Post: U.S. food watchdog sets up in China, amid dairy clash
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Viagra (Sildenafil citrate) was initially created as a drug to treat high blood pressure and angina. It was discovered that the drug had little consistent impact in this area, but that it did result in erectile activity. Viagra is the best known brand name of this drug, and it has been freely available in the
Full Post: Viagra pharmacological properties