News » October 2006

Six Chinese held for allegedly marketing fake versions of diet pill Acomplia

October 19, 2006

China Business News has reported that six representatives of three Chinese pharmaceuticals companies have been detained in Paris, France. Allegedly, they were exhibiting the bulk medicine at a major pharmaceutical tradeshow called CPhI Worldwide 2006. These bulk medicines were suspected to become a black-market version of Acomplia (rimonabant).

This incident took place earlier this month and is unwanted news at CPhI Worldwide 2006, which is billing itself as "the annual meeting place for pharmaceutical professionals" where "innovations are discussed, and where business is created."

According to the Russian news agency Interfax, the Chinese were suspected of "infringing intellectual property rights" of Sanofi-Aventis, the Paris-based pharmaceutical company that developed and has begun marketing rimonabant.

Though enough details are not available, but this report has surfaced only months after the European Commission highlighted the problem of sale of counterfeit drugs over the internet in March, earlier this year.

Fake versions of Acomplia were being sold over internet, even before the approval of the original drug. The European Commission had also issued a warning to consumers on March 27th in this regard. At that time, this drug was not being sold by Sanofi anywhere in the world.

According to the European Commission, Acomplia is the latest example of "criminals taking advantage of the anonymity of the internet to sell fake, adulterated and unlicensed medicines to an unsuspecting public, putting lives at risk as well as undermining the pharmaceutical industry".

The European Commission has said that the patients who buy unlicensed and counterfeit or illicit copies of rimonabant may be putting their health at risk.

"I am alarmed at the ever increasing number of counterfeit medicines sold via the internet," Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen said. "This represents a real danger to the health of patients. The Commission is working with European and international partners to do everything possible to ensure legal methods for marketing of medicines are respected and enforced."