Major fake drug hauls in France, seized in transit

Two major counterfeit drug hauls have been reported within days of each other in France. The first involved the confiscation of 200,000 counterfeit tablets of global drug behemoth Pfizer's erectile dysfunction product Viagra (sildenafil citrate), with an estimated value of 3.0 million euros ($3.8 million) at Charles de Gaulle Airport (Roissy) north of Paris. Budget Minister Eric Woerth congratulated customs officers for the find and reported that the fake products originated in India and were destined for the Dominican Republic.

In March 2006, 360,000 imitation tablets of the same drug were seized in a three-week period at the same airport, again believed to have originated in India. At the time, a Pfizer France spokesperson told the Marketletter that "we don't see the French market as being flooded by fake drugs, most of the seized products were bound for Latin America and Africa" (Marketletters passim).

A second haul of counterfeit medicines was also carried out at the English Channel port of Le Havre. This time, an estimated 6.0 million-euros worth of fake drugs and active ingredients were confiscated, of which 145kg (about 320lbs) were finished products. Mr Woerth confirmed that this time there were 350,000 copies of US drug major Eli Lilly's ED drug Cialis (tadalafil) tablets and 50,000 fake Viagra doses. These were found packed loose in plastic buckets and were bound for Honduras, having originated in Syria.