[Ip-health] Washington Post: Crackdown targets counterfeit drugs

[Rohit Malpani]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Crackdown targets counterfeit drugs
RAIDS HELD WORLDWIDE
Fake medicines a growing enterprise

By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 20, 2009

NEW YORK -- In highly orchestrated raids around the world this week, Interp=
ol officers in Europe, drug agents in the United States and task forces fro=
m Sweden to Singapore hunted down counterfeit prescription drugs in an effo=
rt to stem a rapidly growing criminal business preying on financially press=
ed consumers looking for bargains.

The operation, code-named Pangea, is expected to be disclosed Friday in an =
effort to put fraudulent businesses on notice that police around the world =
are fighting back against what has become a $28 million industry in the Uni=
ted States alone.

The national crackdown uncovered nearly 800 alleged packages of fake or sus=
picious prescription drugs including Viagra, Vicodin, and Claritin, and shu=
t down 68 alleged rogue online pharmacies. Some counterfeit drugs may have =
as much as three times more of an active ingredient than is typically presc=
ribed; others may be placebos. Drywall material, antifreeze and yellow high=
way paint have been found in counterfeit pills.

The front line of the operation is deep in the bowels of a sprawling mail c=
enter in the industrial outskirts of John F. Kennedy International Airport.=
 This week, federal agent Stephen Buzzeo, wielding a letter opener, ripped =
open a manila envelope lined with cardboard from a diaper package and pulle=
d out three packages of what looked like diet pills, anxiety medicine and O=
xyContin, an often abused painkiller.

Hundreds of packages of potentially fake medicines were dumped into orange =
bins, piled on skids and stacked high around him and the half-dozen others =
from the alphabet soup of government agencies -- ICE, CBP, FDA, DEA -- hopi=
ng to intercept them before they were shipped to often unwitting consumers.=
 Overseas, Interpol officers and task forces stormed suspected counterfeit =
drug warehouses and distribution centers.

"We don't know what's in here, actually," Buzzeo said as he inspected the p=
ills. "All this is shady."

Counterfeit drugs are the latest -- and potentially most dangerous -- front=
 in the long-running battle against intellectual-property crimes. Law enfor=
cement officials said consumers typically think of counterfeited products a=
s fake Louis Vuitton purses or Nike sneakers. Although shoes are the most c=
ommon phony product, accounting for 38 percent, or $102 million, of counter=
feit products seized by customs officials last year, pharmaceuticals are on=
e of the fastest-growing categories.

In 2007, they made up about 6 percent of total seizures. Last year, they ac=
counted for 10 percent to become the third-largest category, with an estima=
ted market value of $28 million. Federal officials say that trend is partic=
ularly disturbing because of the health dangers that such drugs present.

"The public safety part of intellectual property has really taken off in th=
e last couple years and become the moving force," said John T. Morton, an a=
ssistant secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which spear=
headed the Pangea operation. "This is a huge problem."

Though counterfeit drugs have a history as old as snake oil, the high cost =
of many prescription drugs has driven some consumers to hunt for cheaper al=
ternatives on the Internet. According to the National Association of Chain =
Drug Stores, a trade group, Americans spent $254 billion on prescription dr=
ugs last year, up 1.8 percent from 2007. The long-running recession has mad=
e such costs more difficult for many consumers, experts said.

Meanwhile, the rise of Internet pharmacies has expanded the marketplace and=
 supply chain for the drugs. One site under federal investigation that is s=
elling a "power pack" of erectile dysfunction drugs Cialis and Viagra purpo=
rts to have a warehouse in New Delhi, headquarters in Canada and a license =
to sell medicine in the United States through Minnesota.

However, the investigation found that the site was registered in China and =
its server was hosted in Russia. Its headquarters had previously been liste=
d in Louisiana. ICE agents have placed several orders and are trying to bui=
ld a case against the site.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy maintains a list of roughly =
4,000 online pharmacies it says is questionable. It also certifies legitima=
te sellers through its Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice sites program. S=
eventeen have passed the test.

"The Internet is just the wild, wild West," said Dr. Bryan A. Liang, vice p=
resident of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, an advocacy group.

Last fall, a new law was enacted that prohibited Internet pharmacies from d=
ispensing prescription drugs over the Internet without a prescription and a=
lso increased some criminal penalties. Another bill sponsored by Rep. Steve=
 Israel (D-N.Y.) this summer proposed increasing penalties for drug counter=
feiters and enhancing the Food and Drug Administration's ability to track t=
hem. It stalled in committee.

In 2004, ICE began targeting drug counterfeiters under what it called Opera=
tion Apothecary. It has since expanded into a veritable global surveillance=
 system encompassing half a dozen U.S. agencies and 24 countries for a week=
 of intense enforcement. In the United States, task forces descended on sev=
en major mail hubs this week, including in San Francisco, Miami and Cincinn=
ati, and inspected 7,088 packages.

In New York, federal agents spent the week at Kennedy Airport pulling suspi=
cious packages from China, India, Peru, Pakistan, Brazil, Turkey, Taiwan an=
d Russia, trying to spot distribution trends and gathering leads. The leads=
 can take months or years to track down, but officials said they need to st=
art somewhere.

"For the criminals, at least," said Richard Halverson, unit chief at the Na=
tional Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, "we're telling the=
m that everybody's looking."