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Fact 9 – Lilly spends $1 million a day to combat counterfeit drugs

February 7, 2008 at 11:04 am · Filed under California e-Pedigree, fake drugs ·Tagged , , , ,

In a January 2008 article in the Indianapolis Star, Lilly spokesman stated that Lilly spends $1 million a day to combat counterfeit drugs.

 Lilly said counterfeit versions of six of its branded drugs have been seized around the world, including antipsychotic Zyprexa, erectile-dysfunction drug Cialis and antidepressant Cymbalta.

 The real issue, Lilly said, is the sharply rising epidemic of counterfeit drugs — fake, unregulated, illegal drugs made in Third World countries. Since January 2006, customs officials around the world have seized more than 3 million counterfeit or suspected counterfeit tablets, in more than 1,000 separate actions, the company said.

A woman in Argentina who had mild anemia died of liver failure in 2004 after taking a highly toxic counterfeit. A woman from Canada was fatally poisoned by fake drugs she received over the Internet laced with deadly metals.

Many of the drugs, the industry says, are made by organized criminals in unsanitary conditions that would never pass FDA approval. They can make huge profits without overhead costs, quality control or regulatory enforcement.
“They might run a batch of Viagra, then a batch of Cialis, then a batch of Lipitor, and then they might do some narcotics,” Michael J. Muller, director of Lilly’s global anti-counterfeiting operations. “These guys are after money, a quick buck.”
Lilly says the volume of global counterfeiting comes to about $30 billion, which would represent about 5 percent of global sales. The company expects the figure to double by 2010.

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