Illegal medicine seizures rise 19%

UNAUTHORISED medicines continue to pose a serious danger to human health as over 3,700 breaches of medicinal product legislation were detected last year.

The Irish Medicines Board initiated 3,729 enforcement cases in relation to human medicines during 2009 – the majority of which related to the importation of prescription-only medicine via mail order.

The total amount of unauthorised medicines seized last year represents a 19% rise on 2008 figures.