Summit on online drugs trade aimed at spurring Government into action

A TOP-LEVEL summit is being staged in Dublin tomorrow on the growing dangers of buying counterfeit drugs and medicines over the internet.

The Irish Patients’ Association (IPA) is staging the conference with delegates from the Government, EU crimefighting body Europol, as well as pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer.

Last year, an Irish Examiner investigation revealed how anyone with access to the internet can easily get prescription medicines delivered illegally to their homes.

Health watchdogs say the practice is dangerous as buyers cannot purchase direct from the manufacturers and are at risk of buying fake drugs which can be lethal.

Tomorrow at the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney, Co Dublin, delegates will hear calls for urgent government action to tackle fake drugs and internet pharmacies.

“We don’t know the extent of the problem but we are concerned about the internet being used more and more as a marketplace,” said IPA chairman Stephen McMahon.

“Our concern is that people are prescribing themselves medicine, buying online and then could die from taking medicines they buy with a click of a mouse.”

The conference also aims to raise awareness about the dangers of buying online, as well as to explore how the problem is being tackled.

Among the speakers are key officials from the Government’s drugs and chemists regulators, the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI).

The IMB is responsible for licensing all human and veterinary medicines in Ireland and works with Customs and gardaí to stop illegal medicines being imported into the State.

Mr Benoit Godart, from Europol’s serious crime department, is expected to outline the extent to which EU police forces are co-operating in the fight against counterfeit, as well as internet medicine, which can also be fake.

Medicines brought by the Irish Examiner during the paper’s two-day exposé last year came illegally from EU countries like Holland via US-based websites.

The conference will also hear about the dangers posed by the risk of counterfeit drugs getting into the legitimate supply chain.

The IPA said the pharmaceutical industry was important economically to Ireland and was worth €34 billion in exports alone at the last count in 2002.

“Among the world’s top selling medicines six out of 10 are produced in Ireland so the potential impact of counterfeit drugs on the Irish economy is substantial,” said Mr McMahon.

The conference also aims to improve relations between law enforcers and regulators in Europe and the US, so they can co-ordinate action against rogue internet pharmacies and medicine dealers operating in different countries.

Minister of Sate for Health Tim O’Malley is to give the opening speech at the conference, which is being staged to pressure the Government to act on the problem of counterfeit medicines.