Andrew Witty, the chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, has waded into the debate on fake pharmaceuticals by urging governments in South-East Asia to clamp down on counterfeiters. Mr Witty told The Times that more needed to be done to punish those who are involved with producing and selling dangerous fake treatments.By Tom Bawden23 February 2009Read the full story at The Times…

Counterfeit drugs are flooding into Africa, where up to one in three medicines can be fake, causing widespread suffering and death. The World Health Organisation wants an international agreement to tackle the threat but is being thwarted by members such as India and Brazil, more concerned with vested interests than African patients. By Bright Simons 23 February 2009

The plain white boxes with dull grey lettering that line pharmacy shelves are supposed to contain medicine to improve people’s well being. But worldwide concern over the legitimacy of pharmaceuticals has increased markedly in the last three years. At an open forum attended by representatives of the Ministry of Health and private sector on Thursday in Sharjah, a representative pharmaceutical…

Last week, BBC File On 4 published a story detailing how counterfeit drugs infiltrated the United Kingdom’s national drug supply in 2007. The Medicines Health products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)—the British equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—issued four emergency recalls notices after a wholesaler spotted packaging discrepancies in several drugs imported from other European countries.

A NEW Ministry of Health task force plans to launch a crackdown next month on pharmacies selling counterfeit over-the-counter drugs. The task force, composed of police officers and called the Police of Justice for the Ministry of Health, will operate in all of the Kingdom's 24 provinces and municipalities, Chou Yinsim, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Health,…

Grady Jackson, a defensive tackle with the Atlanta Falcons, said he used the weight-loss capsules. Kathie Lee Gifford was enthusiastic about them on the “Today” show. Retailers like GNC and the Vitamin Shoppe sold them, no prescription required. But the Food and Drug Administration now says those weight-loss capsules, called StarCaps and promoted as natural dietary supplements using papaya, could…

Government has said it would from this month intensify border checks on drugs coming into the country to control the proliferation of fake and counterfeit drugs.The move comes after reports of counterfeit and fake versions of malaria drug artesunate, commonly known as LA, in Kenya where police reportedly struck and seized hundreds of thousands of the fake drugs and also…