Seizures of illegal medicines up 55% in 2015, says watchdog

Seizures of falsified or counterfeit medicines grew 55 per cent last year, according to the annual report of the State’s drugs watchdog.

The Health Products Regulatory Authority detained 1.14 million dosage units of medicines in 2015, up from 730,000 the year before.

Sleeping pills accounts for almost two-thirds of seizures, followed by erectile dysfunction products (9 per cent) and illegal cosmetic products (6 per cent). Other products seized in large quantities were anabolic steroids as well as slimming and pain relief products.

The authority says it followed up 2,810 reports of adverse reactions to drugs for humans, and 437 involving veterinary medicines.

Deemed non-compliant

Over 100 compliance cases were opened under its market surveillance programme for cosmetic products, 90 of which were deemed to be non-compliant with EU regulations. The breaches related mainly to labelling, prohibited substances, contamination and unsupported claims about the efficacy of products.

Over 2,100 vigilance reports for medical devices were followed up, the report says. There were 113 human medicine and three veterinary medicine recalls during the year.

Chief executive Lorraine Nolan said 2015 was a highly productive year for the agency involving “significant levels of work outputs across an expansive market”.