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Dept of Health

Answer

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to tackle counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical industry. [197472] Ms Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) investigates all allegations of counterfeit medicines in the United Kingdom, the vast majority of which are not associated with the tightly regulated legitimate supply chain. Action, in the form of legal proceedings, is taken when appropriate. The MHRA's inspection and enforcement division continually reviews its counterfeit strategy in order to remain proactive in this area. Some of the key initiatives are: The MHRA, in association with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, routinely carries out market surveillance by sampling and testing `off the shelf medicines on the UK market for authentication. The target products for this surveillance are based on intelligence and risk assessments. To date, none of the tests has identified a counterfeit product. Due to the global nature of the problem of counterfeit medicines, the MHRA continues to liaise closely with international regulatory partners, the pharmaceutical industry and international law enforcement agencies to ensure that the tackling of counterfeiting medicines remains a prioritised and co-ordinated activity. The MHRA is actively consulting with the pharmaceutical industry and technology the providers in the area of its work on technical developments in product security, which are aimed to further safeguard the integrity of the medicines supply chain. This includes work with the National Patient Safety Agency and the NHS Patient and Supply Agency on the potential use of bar- coding medicines and blood products to increase patient safety. In addition, work is being done with the United States Food and Drug Administration in the use of sophisticated `fingerprinting' to identify active pharmaceutical ingredients as a means of product verification. The MHRA is developing an educational program for the public and other stakeholders on the dangers of counterfeit medicines and purchasing drugs on the internet.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426 c1301W;426 c1305W; 197472

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Counterfeit manufacturing Forgery Drugs Pharmacy Prescription drugs Medicine

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk