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Department of Health

Pharmacists often do not know where the box has come from. Last night, we were shown a trick that the pharmaceutical companies have introduced. They have invented a new kind of print that is stuck on to the box. In the example that we were shown, the name ““Pfizer”” was used. The pharmacist is provided with a device that allows them to match an example of the print with the print on the box. If the print on the box is not authentic, it is possible to see the difference. However, it will not be long before the criminal entrepreneurs are doing the same thing. Last night, we discussed how we could prevent the counterfeiting of drugs and the use of the parallel trading system. One suggestion was that electronic tags could be placed in the boxes. I suggested to the meeting—and I suggest to the House today—that when a pharmaceutical product leaves the factory, it goes out with a transport audit. For example, if it had been manufactured by Pfizer, it would come out of Kent and the transport audit would follow it through every stage of its journey. Perhaps, however, I have not thought the idea through; criminal entrepreneurs could find a way round that, too. I must tell the Minister that we urgently—and I do mean urgently—need to have discussions about this matter, otherwise patients in our national health service are going to start dying as a result of taking these contaminated, counterfeit, parallel-traded products.