Counterfeit Cancer Drug Trade Growing

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Counterfeit Cancer Drug Trade Growing.

On the front of its Marketplace section, the Wall Street Journal (12/31, B1, Whalen, Faucon, Subscription Publication) reports that the counterfeit Avastin (bevacizumab) found recently in the US was not an isolated incident but rather reflects a growing problem. The US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning that Winnipeg-based Internet pharmacy Canada Drugs might have distributed the product to US physicians. But authorities investigating the fake drug product believe it may have been originally issued from China, where the business of producing counterfeit drug products has flourished over the past few years, thanks to lax regulations amid an atmosphere of accelerated industrialization. They say fake cancer drugs in particular are increasingly being produced, primarily in Asia and the Middle East, but the problem has been slowly finding its way on to the US and European markets. Counterfeiters see costly cancer drugs as easy moneymakers. The Journal points out that the cost of one 400-mg vial of injectable Avastin, for example, is about $2,400.