Fake parallel trade drug hits UK, product recall

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) has issued a recall for specific batches of the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa (olanzapine), which is manufactured by US drugmaker Eli Lilly. The announcement follows the discovery of counterfeit product in the legitimate supply chain with falsified French packaging. Eli Lilly did not issue a statement as the Marketletter went to press.

Until the announcement, dated May 24, no proven instance of counterfeit infiltration via the European parallel trade network had been recorded by the MHRA. For the European Association of Euro-Pharmaceutical Companies, the timing of the revelation could hardly be less helpful. In the previous week, the European Parliament hosted a symposium on the threat of counterfeit drugs, at which branded drugmakers were at pains to point out what they consider the systematic weakness of the distribution process (Marketletter May 28).

Global drug giant Pfizer told the gathering in Brussels, Belgium, that "over 140 million medicine packs are parallel traded across Europe each year, all are opened and altered and can travel through as many as 20-30 pairs of hands before finally reaching the patient."