The European Union and the protection of Viagra

As the year slowly draws to a close, there have been many areas of advancement in medical technology and science.
It seems there has also been a significant increase in white collared crimes.

Reports from Berlin have announced that the trading and use of counterfeit medicine has greatly increased in the last year. According to a European industry commissioner, the sales of counterfeit drugs have exceeded the organization’s worst fear. In the last two months alone, the European Union has seized as much as 34 million fake tablets. These have included tablets that are used very frequently such as antibiotics, cancer and the anti impotence pill, Viagra.

Gunter Verheugen, in speaking with a German Daily announced that the number of counterfeit drugs that are being produced keeps growing by the day.

Many pharmaceutical companies are well aware of this risk. In a test run three months ago by Pfizer—the company responsible for the production of Viagra pills, it was found that almost half of the Viagra tablets ordered from Asia were found to be a mixture of fake placebos or counterfeited tablets. Viagra tablets are used by as much as 50 million people all over the world. Pfizer sells more than 300 million tablets every year. Viagra tablets are easily identifiable with their blue color and diamond shape but even these trademark features have now become copied by counterfeiters.

In speaking with the press, Verheugen said the European Union, will soon be taking positive steps towards curbing the problem of fake drugs. Verheugen is quoted as saying “…the number of counterfeit medicines arriving in Europe … is constantly growing. The European Commission is extremely worried. In just two months, the EU seized 34 million fake tablets at customs points in all member countries. This exceeded our worst fears."

In a EU report released earlier in the year, it was reported that majority of the fake drugs found in the modern market originate from India and if efforts are going to be made towards curbing this flow then it is reasonable to believe that this is where the bulk of the attention shall be paid. Already there are calls by members of the EU for the organization to consider the counterfeiting of drugs as a serious crime with a severe penalty.

"Every faked drug is a potential massacre. Even when a medicine only contains an ineffective substance, this can lead to people dying because they think they are fighting their illness with a real drug. I expect the EU will agree in 2010 that a drug's journey from manufacture to sale should be scrutinized carefully. There will also be anti-counterfeit markings on packaging — in particular a barcode and seal, to show clearly if a package has been opened," Verheugen said.

Already plans of this nature are already in effect. A legal proposal in the works which is aimed at hindering the flow of supply drugs. Included amongst the proposition is the need for improved securities on packaging as well as tighter monitoring of suppliers. Until this occurs though, the best way of ensuring that the drugs which you buy are original tablets is by making sure that you visit credible pharmacies. If you want to buy Viagra online, you should use the services of established online stores. UK online pharmacies for example are a lot less risky than those based in Asia.