People who buy medicines over the internet could be getting counterfeit drugs with the potential to damage their health, a report out today warns.
The report, compiled by researchers from Dublin City University, states that the quality of products available over the internet is unknown and patients need to be aware of this.
While the extent of the importation of counterfeit drugs into the Republic is not known, the World Health Organisation estimates counterfeits make up between 5 and 8 per cent of the $550 billion in medicines sold around the world each year.
"The primary problem with counterfeit drugs is the significant danger they pose to public health and safety," the report states.
"In developing countries, people and organisations are using the few resources they have to purchase life-saving medications. Desperate people who can't afford the full price of a drug known to be effective grasp at the opportunity to get an affordable product. When they get a fake product, the consequences are often fatal," it adds.
It cites as an example the fact that when a meningitis epidemic broke out in Niger in 1995, Nigeria donated 88,000 vaccines in good faith, only to learn later the products were counterfeit and contained no active product. "It is estimated that 2,500 people died because of these fake vaccines."
The report, Counterfeit Drugs: Towards an Irish Response to a Global Crisis, by Dr Dónal P Ó Mathúna and Dr Adam McAuley, was carried out for the Irish Patients' Association and funded by the Department of Health. It says the problem requires a co-ordinated global response.
"Tackling counterfeit drugs requires many different strategies involving the active co-operation of all stakeholders. These include governments, the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare professionals, police, customs, distributors, patients' organisations, and those concerned about people's rights. Most importantly, they involve individuals making decisions not to purchase unregulated drugs of any kind, no matter how attractive they may seen. Only through individual decision and global policies can society embark upon the elimination of this scourge."
Drugs taken for erectile dysfunction, to control cholesterol levels and to enhance athletic performance make up the bulk of the illicit trade in developed countries, the report states. In 2004 British authorities shut down a factory in London that was producing half a million valium, viagra and steroid tablets daily.
The report says research is urgently needed to investigate the extent of the problem in the Republic, including whether and to what extent An Post and other package carriers are being used to import counterfeit drugs.
It also calls for the Garda and Customs and Excise officials to be resourced to work with Interpol on counterfeit drugs investigations.