Seizures of illegal medicines on increase

Customs officials are seizing 100 packages of medicines a week sourced illegally through the internet, the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) has revealed.

The figure represents a three-fold increase on seizures over the summer. Most of the packages are delivered by post.

A Customs spokesman confirmed the increase in the number of seizures, which he said was a result of an increase in the volume of medicines being smuggled illegally into the country.

"It seems to be down to increased purchasing over the internet and self-medicating. We're also getting better at spotting these things."

The IMB said it was involved in international operations which traced e-mails promoting medical products back to their original source.

The operations lead to the closure of 10 businesses illegally selling medicines online every week. By far the most commonly seized drugs are for erectile dysfunction, followed by antibiotics and anabolic steroids.

IMB chief executive Pat O'Mahony said monitoring the illegal importation of medicines bought over the internet was a "constant struggle" despite repeated warnings from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that half of all drugs sold through the internet are bogus.

"If the majority are buying products for erectile dysfunction, and they are getting no active ingredient in that, it is not doing them any harm, but if they are buying an important drug where they are expecting a medical effect that is important for their health and they find there is no active ingredient, it is extremely worrying," he said.

"People should understand that they have no guarantees with these products. At worst that could damage their health, and at best they could be wasting their money," Mr O'Mahony added.

The IMB's annual report for 2006, which was published yesterday, also warned about the dangers of diagnostic kits bought over the internet. One company was investigated by the Garda after selling HIV diagnostic kits that were faulty.

The board, which is the licensing and monitoring body for medicines and medical devices, recalled 122 such devices last year, most of which were sold legitimately.

These include a contact lens solution which was thought to be associated with an increased incidence of a serious eye infection and the recall of three automatic external defibrillators due to component problems. In total there were 1,900 adverse reactions to medicines which were reported to the board, a figure that was similar to other years.

The number of cases involving alleged breaches of medicinal product legislation fell from 561 cases in 2005 to 469 in 2006.

However, the number of enforcement cases which were closed as a result of actions taken following warnings from the IMB almost doubled from 430 cases in 2005 to 797 to 2006, indicating better compliance.

In total the IMB seized almost 100,000 tablets, 41,361 capsules, 52,873mls of liquids and 5,652gms of creams.

The IMB was also involved in a number of court cases in 2006 which led to prosecutions.

A man was fined €2,500 for supplying an expired supplement for bodybuilders by mail order.

The IMB also helped bring a successful prosecution against a medical clinic for prescribing vitamin B12 injections without production authorisation. The Clinic of Holistic Medicine in Galway city was fined €3,000 as a result. The injection can only be supplied by a registered GP.