Black Market Medication in Romania
Online sales of medication from unofficial sources is a dangerous phenomenon across the world
Luana Pleşea, 28.06.2017, 13:01
Online sales of medication from unofficial sources is a dangerous phenomenon across the world, and one that is very hard to rein in. There are widespread criminal networks that obtain huge profits by these means. According to the International Institute of Research against Counterfeit Medicine (IRACM), one out of two drugs sold on-line is counterfeit, and only one seller out of 20 is authorized.
Even though the situation in Romania is not yet very serious, it is worrying. The first report on monitoring sales of unauthorized drugs on-line has been launched in Bucharest recently. The report assesses the present situation of illicit sales on-line of prescription drugs, which is a huge risk for public health. According to Dan Miclea, general manager of Media Kompass, the organization that released the report, they monitored all products on the National Oncology Program list, the Rare Disease National Program list, and the vaccine list for the last five years. Their conclusion is that cancer patients are at worst risk when it comes to illegal medication trade.
Dan Miclea told us what the report says, in a nutshell: “First of all, educating and informing patients has a very important role. Patients in a desperate situation, such as cancer patients, cannot afford to wait to find a normal treatment solution, like other patients, for instance those suffering from chronic illnesses. In addition to education and information, which is the role of the authorities, and maybe of civil society and the press, it is important for the press to do its job, to run journalistic investigations. Also, we need legislation that cannot be interpreted, targeted at websites posting advertising, and a legislation for sellers, in addition to other publications.”
Police officer Razvan Marinica, with the Economic Crime Investigation Department, told us that illegal sellers risk criminal prosecution, under charges of tax evasion, money laundering, or selling counterfeit medication: “The legislation is a bit ambiguous. It creates some problems for us, especially the article in the Criminal Code on counterfeit medication. It does not address specifically falsifying medication, but simply counterfeiting. Counterfeiting means falsifying the marking and the brand name, not the product in itself, what it contains. We are dealing with crime rings, in which people dont put on the books the sales of medication. The money obtained in this way are laundered through various financial and tax circuits.”
One draft law that is supposed to delineate the legal framework for regulating on-line pharmacies is about to be passed in the Chamber of Deputies.
Cezar Irimia, head of the Chronic Patient Alliance of Romania, believes that it is not lack of information or education that is to blame for patients making illegal medication purchases, but a defective policy: “I know patients who have made purchases on-line, I know patients who have been duped, and had to go to the doctor because they got sick. I know other patients who have ingested coal tablets sold as a cytostatic. The patients did not know what the drug looked like. They believe that it was supposed to look black. These opportunists emerge in times of crisis, and they come to the gate of the hospital, not just on-line. How did we get here? Ask the people who govern us. The lack of coherent health policy is what led here. The lack of responsibility led to this disaster. A number of cheap drugs have disappeared, essential for oncology treatment. This is the disastrous price policy practiced by the Ministry of Health. Therefore, a lot of drugs have been pulled off the market, and the ones that are efficient as an economic business disappear in the parallel export process. German investigative journalists say that around 90% of the import of medication on their market comes from Romania.”
Nicolae Fotin, head of the National Drug and Medical Equipment Agency, said that there are in place measures to prevent falsified drugs entering the legal circuit. Also, he warned that there are multiple risks for patients who purchase drugs on-line from unauthorized sources: “When you dont know the origin of the drug, you dont know the manufacturer, you dont know the active ingredient, the concentration, the excepient, you are exposing yourself to risks. Lets take vaccines. We all know that vaccines are sensitive, they should be kept refrigerated, some of them can sustain freezing, and some others cannot. If you keep them outside their temperature range they may have bad effects, or they may be ineffective. Even if the vaccine is authorized, it may become ineffective if it is kept outside its conditions for stability. Degraded vaccines are dangerous.”
The situation is sometimes even worse. Toxic substances such as mercury or rat poison have been found in some fake medication. Therefore it falls onto us, when purchasing medication on-line, to check the legal status of the websites and the brands being sold, ahead of the authorities.
