US FDA and Interpol Seize 21 Million Fake Medicines Worth $81 Million in One Week of Joint Operation
Posted on: Friday, July 9, 2015

Every year regulatory agencies from all over the world jointly conduct an international week of action, called Operation Pangea, to go after online pharmacies selling counterfeit and illicit medicines and post their results publicly to create awareness about the dangers of buying medicines from internet pharmacies. This operation is coordinated by INTERPOL which brings together customs, health regulators, national police and the private sector from countries around the world. Operation Pangea targets the three principal components of illegal web pharmacies – the Internet Service Provider (ISP), payment systems and the delivery service. The annual week-long operation which was launched with participants from 10 countries in 2008, has risen is stature with 115 countries and 236 agencies participating in the 8th Operation Pangea from 9-16 June 2015. The operation was hugely successful and led to seizure of a record 20.7 million units of medicines with an estimated value of USD 81 million, arrest of 156 individuals involved with more than 2410 websites. In addition, 429 investigations were launched and 550 illegal pharma ads were removed from the internet, along with closure of all the 2410 errant websites. In publishing their findings, leaders from several participating regulatory agencies touted their desire to enforce the law and protect people from counterfeit and potentially life-threatening illegal medicine sold online. Operation Pangea is one of 6 major operations launched by INTERPOL in different parts of the world to counter illegal pharmaceutical trade. Operation Pangea is the largest since its target is illegal online pharmacies which are operation in practically every country on the world. Other operations target regional (South-East Asia, Northern- Eastern- and Southern-Africa) issues of illegal manufacture, marketing and sale of illegal pharmaceuticals. These operations are used to train regulators and law enforcement officers in various activities and create awareness about the operations of transnational organized criminals involved in the trafficking of counterfeit medical products. It seems the operations are working; compared to last two years, lot fewer errant web-sites were found this year and lot fewer individuals were arrested.

Expert Opinion: Mukesh Kumar
VP, RA, Amarex Clinical Research