Fake medicines net €35bn for gangs

HEALTH watchdogs strongly suspect one in 10 medicines on the market globally are fake, making €35 billion annually for the crime gangs that peddle the drugs.

Yesterday, the Irish Patients’ Association staged a conference in Dublin to address growing fears over fake drugs and the sale of medicines over the internet.

Among those present to hear calls for new criminal laws against the gangs was junior health minister Tim O’Malley along with key figures from the Government’s medicines industry regulators.