Counterfeit Drug Crackdown in China Leads to 2,000 Arrests and $182 Million Worth of Fake Medicine

According to the New York Times, 2,000 people have been detained by Chinese government authorities after a nationwide crackdown on counterfeit drugs and health care products.

Reports state that the Chinese government assembled over 18,000 officers to break up drug counterfeiting rings and successfully confiscated $182 million in fake medicine. Some of the pharmaceuticals included fraudulent drugs for the treatment of serious illnesses, such as cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

The government stated that the detection of fake drugs is becoming increasingly harder as counterfeiters become more sophisticated. In the months prior to this crackdown, government officials discovered that hospital workers were saving old packages and selling them to counterfeiters to be refilled with fake pharmaceuticals.

Despite the government’s continuous efforts to establish food and drug safety measures, fraudulent drug scandals seem to recur every few months. According to the Ministry of Public Security, an $8,000 reward will be offered to those who help uncover fraudulent pharmaceutical operations.

“Taking counterfeit drugs can be detrimental to a person’s health, and pharmaceutical companies’ reputations and finances suffer as well,” states Diane Miskowski, MPH, EMSL’s Business Development Manager. “EMSL Analytical’s cGMP and ISO 17025 compliant laboratory can test drugs to determine whether they are counterfeits, in addition to performing analyses such as sterility and stability testing.”

For more information about EMSL’s testing services, please contact EMSL at 800-220-3675,  info@EMSL.com , or visit www.EMSL.com.

About EMSL Analytical, Inc.
EMSL Analytical is a full service testing company providing quality lab services under the same private ownership since 1981. Including the corporate lab facility in Cinnaminson, NJ, EMSL Analytical operates over thirty laboratories nationwide in the US and Canada. We provide analytical services for environmental, indoor air quality (IAQ), industrial hygiene, forensics and materials science, consumer products, food safety, PCR, pharmaceutical, asbestos, lead, and radiological samples. The company has an extensive list of accreditations from leading organizations, as well as state and federal regulating bodies.

Contact Information

Joseph Frasca

Senior Vice President of Marketing

EMSL Analytical

(1) 1-800-220-3675

jfrasca@emsl.com