World News
REFILE-China arrests one over fake, toxic birth-control pills
BEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Chinese authorities have closed down a factory producing fake birth-control pills out of starch and glucose and arrested one person, media reports said on Monday. Tests by the Food and Drug Administration on the southern island of Hainan found not only that the pills were useless in preventing pregnancy but…
[...]25 children hospitalised after taking expired pills in Russia
Twenty five children were hospitalized late on Thursday after taking expired pills at a boarding school in Russia's southwestern Voronezh region, local authorities said on Friday. According to Voronezh's chief sanitary inspector Mikhail Chubirko, the 25 children felt unwell after they took "Isoniazid" and "Heksavit" pills at supper and were then rushed to hospitals. Three…
[...]Bhopal gas victims get spurious drugs, say activists
Bhopal, Dec 14 (IANS) Terming it as a 'citizens raid', Bhopal gas tragedy survivors' organisations claimed to have seized a large number of sub-standard and expired drugs from two medical stores of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department. 'A joint team of four organisations, working for the victims of the world's worst man-made…
[...]Fakes hobble fight against malaria
Hong Kong – Li Guoqiao was a village doctor in China's southwestern Yunnan province in 1974 when the government asked him to try using an herbal drug, artemisinin, to treat malaria patients. What followed was one of China's first clinical trials using the herb, and the results were startling. All 18 patients felt better within…
[...]Fake Internet Pharmacies Peddling Counterfeit Drugs
Rampant circulation of fake drugs in the global market
Mumbai, Dec 10: Concerned over rampant circulation of fake drugs in the global market, India's apex drug control body has taken the matter to the World Health Organisation as it seriously affected the public health in the country. "The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has begun talks with the World Health Organisation (WHO) over…
[...]Bitter Pills
Ethiopia: Counterfeit Drugs Seen As a Growing Problem
Counterfeit goods threaten security, economic growth and public safety worldwide, U.S. and private industry officials warn. Of increasing concern, they say, is the flood of counterfeit medicines into the marketplace. Trade in counterfeit and fake goods, officially referred to as intellectual property piracy, "negatively impacts our society through the loss of profits, jobs, revenue and…
[...]Fake drugs racket busted, one held
A fake medicine racket has been busted in Howrah, with the arrest of the 48-year-old kingpin, Mahesh Kumar Rathi, and seizure of fake medicines worth around Rs 7 lakh. Rathi was picked up on Wednesday night following raids on his house at 197 Ramkrishnapur Lane and two drug outlets, on GT Road (in Shibpur) and…
[...]Fake Drugs Create a Bitter Pill for Patients Overseas
In February 2005, a 23-year-old Burmese man checked into a rural hospital in East Burma with a fairly ordinary case of malaria. The hospital gave him the usual treatment — artesunate pills, a medicine heralded as a miracle cure for its speed in treating the disease. Three days later, he slipped into a coma. Within…
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